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The man in the eye of the CD storm, BJP’s Leader of Opposition in the UP Assembly Lalji Tandon, attracts controversies like honey draws bees.

Three years ago, during the 2004 Lok Sabha polls, he nearly sank Atal Bihari Vajpayee by setting off a stampede for free saris at his house in Lucknow. At least 22 women died in the rush for the cheap saris Tandon ordered for distribution on his birthday.

He called it daan but the Election Commission saw it as a violation of the model code of conduct and slapped him with a showcause notice. It was particularly embarrassing for Vajpayee because Lucknow was his constituency and Tandon was his election manager.

Well, he’s done it again. This time, Tandon has put the entire party in a spot by releasing a campaign CD that contains offensive communal propaganda. He must be ruing his fate because he was pulled into the release function as a last-minute substitute for actress Smriti Irani who did a no-show.

Some sixth sense probably warned the actress to stay away. But Tandon is obviously not blessed with such fine powers and he happily posed on the stage with the ‘hot’ CD in his hands. It looked pretty official, which is why the EC has come down heavily on the BJP.

Even if the EC decides not to pursue the matter now that Tandon has tendered an unqualified apology, the party may put the veteran UP leader out to grass, if only to save itself from another Tandon-inspired self goal in the next elections.

BJP circles are surprised that only one head has rolled for the CD fiasco. The party’s UP spokesman, Manoj Misra, was hastily removed after the EC swung into action but Alpana Talwar, who heads the cultural cell which sponsored the CD, survives.

Talwar not only oversaw the production of the film, she’s also the lead actress and quite the star of one-hour of Muslim-bashing. Nothing official about it? Only the BJP draws such a fine line between official and unofficial.

The party has announced an in-house inquiry which is supposed to identify the culprits who’ve landed the BJP in a soup. But party circles feel that Talwar may escape the witch hunt because of her heavy-duty connections. Her chief patron is believed to be former UP speaker, Kesrinath Tripathi.

He had her appointed as head of the cultural and women’s wings of the party. And if the grapevine is to be believed, he even saw the finished version of the film and gave the green signal after suggesting ‘a few’ changes. If Talwar is axed, can Tripathi be far behind?

Tailpiece

There’s a twist to the CD tale. BJP president Rajnath Singh has been forced to turn to the man he hates and fears, Arun Jaitley, for a way out of the crisis. It’s called eating humble pie.

This was the man Singh cut down by taking away the spokesman’s post from him. Now he’s had to swallow his Thakur pride and draft Jaitley to prepare the legal arguments to the EC’s showcause notice.

Singh in particular needs a good legal brain to bail him out because he’s been named in the FIR along with Tandon and Tripathi. The Jaitley camp is gloating, naturally, and the Singh camp is worried.

Will the sudden warmth amount to a fatal embrace? There are no full stops in the power struggle among the BJP’s gen next leaders.
Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net