NEW DELHI, 15 May 2005 — After a party veteran’s embarrassing outburst, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is undergoing fresh convulsions with a former party chief minister virtually revolting against the leadership.
Just a day after senior BJP leader Sunder Singh Bhandari called for party chief L.K. Advani to quit as president and also a probe into the 2002 communal violence in BJP-ruled Gujarat, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi hit out against Advani for appointing Yadunath Pandey as the Jharkhand unit chief.
“There should be internal democracy in the party,” Marandi said yesterday. “When a state unit chief is appointed, at least the key leaders of the state should have been consulted.”
“If such arbitrary decisions are taken, then workers will not be able to work for the party,” said Marandi, hinting at a rebellion. He has called a meeting of disgruntled party workers for tomorrow.
While no one in New Delhi was willing to speak on record, a party leader said: “This is much more damaging than Bhandari’s remarks. It is a serious setback to us. We have to control the damage, not precipitate it.”
The leader admitted the BJP was in a state of confusion.
A year after losing power, the BJP has been hit by an unprecedented crisis. Significantly, more and more leaders of the party are now blaming Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who till now enjoyed an iconic status within BJP, for the party’s shock defeat in last year’s parliamentary elections.
The first major case of dissension came in October last year when former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati shocked all by openly challenging Advani’s authority during a televised party meet.
But it was Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief K.S. Sudarshan’s demand in April, seeking the retirement of Advani and former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, for older leaders to make way for younger leaders that triggered a quake whose aftershocks are still being felt.
A series of statements followed Sudarshan’s call. BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced that the party would contest the next election, due in 2009, under a new leader, raising speculation about Advani’s exit.
Last week, BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan’s article in the party mouthpiece “BJP Today” described the Gujarat riots as a blot on India.
Party circles also talk about the continuing rift between Mahajan and another senior leader, Arun Jaitley. Bhandari also criticized Modi’s inaction during the communal violence.
“(The problem) has only started. It will go on for sometime but we will be able to control it,” said a senior leader, admitting that never before had there been such an open revolt against the leadership.
There is also talk of resentment about Advani holding on to two posts — BJP chief and leader of opposition — going against the party constitution. It is also felt the loss of power has affected the ranks much more than expected.
When Advani took charge in October of a demoralized and poll-battered BJP, he was seen as the last hope. But now, veterans like Sudarshan and Bhandari are apparently making that out to be the BJP’s weakness, its desperation and paucity of leaders.
“Does the party have no alternative, that people are repeated?” asked Bhandari.
