The inner churning in the Bharatiya Janata Party since the loss of the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year has thrown up a number of startling events – expulsions, mini-revolts, interventions — but very little, it appears, of the much promised “introspection”. The general dissatisfaction with both party president Rajnath Singh and party leader LK Advani, who is also leader of Opposition, remained, especially after Vasundhara Raje was forced to step down as leader of the BJP legislature party in Rajasthan after she lost the assembly elections this year.
Finally, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh was forced to step in and Mohan Bhagwat not only managed to quell the dissidence for now but also indicated that a new party president who did not belong to the expected list, would have to be found. Nitin Gadkari then is the surprise name doing the rounds. From Maharashtra’s Vidarbha district, he is a low key leader who is known for his organisational skills and made some name for himself as urban development minister when the Shiv Sena-BJP were in power in the state. It was not easy for him to emerge out of the shadow of the Pramod Mahajan-Gopinath Munde clique which ran Maharashtra.
It shows that in spite of Gadkarihaving no national presence and being unable to steer the party to victory in Maharashtra, the party found itself in a position where they had to pick someone like him. They could not go with the usual suspects like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu because most of them had already played their hands and were too deeply involved in the top level politicking going on.
Bhagwat’s solution was to find someone outside Delhi. A leader like Narendra Modi is too precious in Gujarat at this time, given that it is the one state where the BJP is still somewhat secure. Gadkari then is a non-controversial politician with some track record but little national presence, a bland choice to tone down the hysteria. He is also reputed to beaccommodating and practical.
The BJP may try to put up a brave public face but the fact remains that the RSS has made it obvious who is pulling the strings. All the losers in this round will be back in the ring once they stop licking their wounds. The party may have found an anodyne answer; the question is whether it will be enough.
Comments