Though no body is talking about it in public, most leaders admit conflict has heightened like never before in the recent past.
NEW DELHI: Internal dissensions have come to the fore in the BJP. This comes ahead of assembly polls in four states and got reflected a day after BJP president Rajnath Singh announced his new team of central office bearers. It relates to individual aspirations and worse to the perceived “insecurity” of the party chief himself. Though no body is talking about it in public, in private talk most leaders admit that conflict has heightened like never before in the recent past.
A senior party leader said, “The new list of office bearers and the responsibilities given to them smack of a sense of insecurity of the party president. There is certainly going to be a churning process in the party over the next one year, more so as it moves closer to the next parliamentary elections.” Ironically, it is believed that the list was prepared in accordance with the RSS. And former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Leader of Opposition L K Advani kept themselves consciously away from this exercise.
Vajpayee has been known for not talking a keen interest in organisational matters, but it is for the first time that Advani maintained a complete distance. The worst affected are the two potential challengers to Rajnath Singh —— Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and high-profile party general secretary Arun Jaitley. Modi has been removed from the party’s highest decision-making body, the Parliamentary Board, and Jaitley from the post of chief spokesman. The move deprived Modi of an opportunity to cheer the sacking of controversial general secretary (organisation) Sanjay Joshi. Joshi’s un-ceremonial removal though had nothing to do with the BJP and was entirely due to the RSS’s disenchantment with him due to his personal conduct.
Jaitley has met with similar fate. He had been the party’s face with the media for long. By dropping him from that post, the party chief has clipped his wings. The post of secretary, Parliamentary Board is only of “academic interest”, a Jaitley close supporter said. The dissatisfied leaders are, of course, not going to vent their ire in public and wait for their time to come.
Former union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, the only Muslim MP in Opposition in the Lok Sabha, is also sulking. He has been removed from the post of secretary and given charge of the Minority Morcha. This post is in total mismatch to his other responsibility as member, Central Election Committee. From being a member of Parliamentary Board, former minister Satnarain Jatia has been shunted to the SC Morcha.
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