Rashtriya Janata Party was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was a splinter group of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. This group was led by

Shankersinh Vaghela Shankersinh Laxmansinhji Vaghela (born 21 July 1940) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was the Leader of Opposition in 13th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Vagela started his political career with the Jana Sangh, w ...

and

Dilip Parikh Dilip Ramanbhai Parikh (16 February 1937 – 25 October 2019) was an Indian politician and industrialist. He was the 13th Chief Minister of Gujarat from 28 October 1997 to 4 March 1998. Early life Parikh was born in 1937 in Bombay (now Mumbai). ...

. It was later dissolved and its leaders joined the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. In 1995, BJP won a majority of 121 legislators out of a 182-member Legislative Assembly, who expressed a preference for

as their leader.

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

is said to have thrown his weight behind

Keshubhai Patel Keshubhai Patel (24 July 192829 October 2020) was an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1995 and from 1998 to 2001. He was a six-time member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He was a member of RSS since 1940s, of Bharatiya ...

in preference to Vaghela and held responsible for the ensuing events. However, the BJP leadership installed

as the Chief Minister and the support for Vaghela was gradually eroded. In September 1995, Vaghela rebelled against the BJP leadership with the support of 47 MLAs. Vaghela lost

Godhra Godhra is a municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from ''gou'' which means "cow" and ''dhara''- which have two meanings dependi ...

seat in May 1996

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

polls, and soon left

with his supporters, bringing down

Suresh Mehta Suresh Mehta (born 5 August 1936) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Gujarat from 1995 to 1996. Biography Early life Suresh Mehta was born on 5 August 1936 at Mandvi, Cutch State (now in Kachchh District, Gujarat, India). ...

's government. He floated his own party, named Rashtriya Janta Party and became Chief Minister with

's support in October 1996. He won bye-poll to Gujarat Assembly from

Radhanpur Radhanpur is a town and a municipality in Patan district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Origin of name According to the tradition, the city is named after Radhan Khan, a descendant of Fateh Khan Baloch. Fateh Khan Baloch received a freedom fro ...

seat in early 1997. But he had to resign as Chief Minister during ongoing political turmoil in Gujarat in October 1997 and his fellow-rebel ex-BJP MLA

became CM with Vaghela's reluctant blessings. Even Parikh's government did not last long and fresh elections for

Gujarat Vidhan Sabha Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member cons ...

had to be called in 1998. Vaghela did not contest these elections. He merged his new party with

.5 things Narendra Modi's friend turned foe Shankersinh Vaghela
/ref>

References

Defunct political parties in Gujarat Political schisms Political parties established in 1995 1995 establishments in Gujarat {{india-party-stub