The incoherence in the party came to the fore once again on Monday when it failed to put up a united front on the ‘compulsory voting’ bill passed by the Gujarat assembly.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari has called a meeting of finance ministers of party-ruled states on Wednesday, ostensibly to get them on the same page on development-related issues.
Party sources, however, claimed the meeting was the beginning of an effort to rein in powerful BJP chief ministers (CMs) and regional satraps who have undermined central authority and taken controversial decisions unilaterally.
The incoherence in the party came to the fore once again on Monday when it failed to put up a united front on the ‘compulsory voting’ bill passed by the Gujarat assembly. While national spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP was yet to take a view on the subject, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan opposed the bill, which is Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s baby.
There have been many instances in recent times when strong regional leaders embarrassed the BJP by not toeing, or disregarding, the party line. Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje resisted attempts by then party chief Rajnath Singh to remove her from the post of leader of opposition in the state assembly.
“In the past, one word from the Centre was enough for chief ministers to toe the line. Now, it is who blinks first,” a top source in the party said.
“The decline in Advani’s influence started this trend. The fact is, the issue of making voting compulsory has taken the central leadership by surprise, even though it is a state prerogative. Can any Congress government dare to do this?” he said.
Resignation dramas when one does not get one’s way have also become common. Maharahstra’s Gopinath Munde resigned from all organisational posts in 2008 crying lack of democracy in the party and over differences with Gadkari, who was then state BJP president, while Uttarakhand leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari quit Rajya Sabha in June 2009 to create trouble for then CM BC Khanduri.
“Gadkariji is young. It will be tough for him to enforce this domination of the Centre, but he is determined,” the source said.
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