Commentary/Rajiv Shukla
In Advani's absence, there is no one to take care of the BJP's interests
Bad times are on the Bharatiya Janata Party. And more is needed to steady it than party president Lal Kishinchand Advani's
much-publicised rath yatra against corruption.
In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh
and New Delhi, there have been great dissension among the BJP rank and file. Now Gujarat
too is adding to the party's troubles.
Unfortunately, the central leadership is turning a blind eye
towards what is happening in Gujarat. This might prove to be a big mistake. At this stage
the trouble can be easily sorted out; but the task may become difficult later.
In Advani's absence, there is no one in the BJP leadership to take care of party interests.
Hence, state unit leaders are doing whatever they feel like.
In Delhi, even as the battle between Chief Minister Sahib Singh
Verma and his predecessor Madan Lal Khurana continues,
a new confrontation has begun between party chief Kedarnath Sahni
and Vidhan Sabha member Poornima Sethi. Sethi has tendered her resignation
from the party and Vidhan Sabha, protesting against Sahni's style of functioning.
Advani has not yet accepted her resignation and efforts are on to pursue her to withdraw it. Sahni is learnt
to have asked the chief minister as well as the Vidhan Sabha speaker to remove
Sethi as chairman of the public accounts committee.
Meanwhile, Khurana's supporters are lobbying hard to get
the chief ministership back for him, as he has now been acquitted in the
hawala case. They say Khurana had stepped down on the understanding he
would be brought back if the court verdict was in his favour.
Now Verma is not at all willing to vacate his chair for Khurana, and is playing the
Jat vote cards to stay in power. .
In Rajasthan, the battle lines are drawn between Chief Minister Shekhawat's son-in-law Narpat Singh
Rajvi and other party leaders. Rajvi has taken action against more that a dozen
prominent leaders of the state unit. Even the RSS leadership has not been able to control him.
The 'wronged' leaders include four office-bearers
of the state BJP unit, four state ministers and
a couple of district presidents as well as the Mahapalika chairman. Rajvi has
got a vigilance inquiry going against these leaders. (Ghanshyam Tiwari and Srichand Kripalani
are among them.)
Party officials have complained to the BJP leadership about Rajvi's growing
influence and unjustified interference. They have demanded that he be removed as the state
BJP general secretary. The BJP leadership, for its part, has appointed Jaswant Singh, the
party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha . Singh is expected to give his report within a week.
The ministers in the dissident
camp include Om Mathur, Lalit Chaturvedi, Bhawar Lal Sharma and Raghuvir
Kaushal. After a meeting presided by state president Ramdass
Aggarwal, they had demanded Rajvi's as well as Parliament member J
P Mathur's removal. Shekhawat removed Mathur from the chairmanship
of the 20 point programme committee, but has not taken any action against Rajvi.
In Uttar Pradesh, former chief minister Kalyan Singh has complained to the leadership about the rising level of corruption and the Mayawati government's renaming of the Hatharas and Chitrakoot districts.
Several Vishwa Hindu Parishad sadhus
have also expressed their displeasure about this. Further, Singh
is said to be greatly unhappy about the attitude of certain BJP ministers like Lalji
Tandon and Kalraj Mishra who, he says, are taking Mayawati's decision lying down.
As the Congress is badly split In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP could well sweep the next election -- provided they ensure the differences between Sunderlal Patwa and Vikram
Verma do not figure in public.
Tell us what you think of this column
|