National

The Gujarat Virus

The BJP's woes worsen with a crisis brewing in its Delhi unit

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The Gujarat Virus
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AS Gujarat slipped inexorably from its grip, Uttar Pradesh came under President’s Rule and dissidence intensified in Rajasthan, the BJP received yet another jolt from its Delhi unit. Under the very nose of the party high command. At a covert meeting in a remote south Delhi farmhouse, 25 of the 47 BJP MLAs in the Delhi assembly, including four state ministers, signed a memorandum attacking Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma.

Coming barely 45 days before the Delhi municipal polls, the first in 13 years, the signature campaign shocked the party and prompted a crackdown. Explanations were sought from four ministers and the MLAs asked to pass a resolution, affirming faith in Verma. The contentious memo disappeared, then mysteriously reappeared in the press.

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The first indication of the BJP’s nervousness regarding dissidence within its ranks appeared with the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Prevention of Defection) Act seeking to extend the anti-defection law to the MCD. Within party circles, there is even talk of postponing the municipal elections. Although Delhi has only seven Lok Sabha and four Rajya Sabha seats, it is a matter of prestige for the party to maintain a hold on the capital.

Verma loyalists charge BJP vice-president and former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana with fomenting trouble. Compelled to quit after he was chargesheeted in the hawala scam, Khurana never endorsed the choice of Verma as his successor. He backed the candidature of Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, but Verma votaries, including Sikander Bakht, Kushubhau Thakre and K. L. Sharma, ultimately had their way.

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Increasingly marginalised within the party, Khurana is keen to come back. But party chief L.K. Advani is adamant that he first be acquitted in the hawala case.

Sources close to Khurana say the signature campaign against Verma was sparked off when the Delhi strongman told a handful of loyalists that he wanted to announce his retirement from active politics on October 15, his 60th birthday. "My heart was not in my work," Khurana admitted later.

Taking the cue, MLA Brahm Singh Tanwar held a party at his Mehrauli farmhouse on October 10 and urged the MLAs to draft a letter against Verma as the first step to reinstating Khurana.

When Khurana got wind of the scheme, he summoned the MLAs. Anticipating a negative reaction from the BJP high command, Khurana personally tore up the letter. But soon after, the text of the letter appeared in the press and Verma demanded an explanation from members of his cabinet who were reported to have signed it. In a meeting last week, he threatened disciplinary action.

Although the MLAs passed a resolution affirming faith in Verma, many said they did so under duress. Dissatisfaction with the chief minister is rampant. "Khilafat to hai," agreed Tanwar. "MLAs are afraid to face the electorate because of the non-performance of the BJP government in Delhi." The MLAs accuse Verma of having divided the party and bureaucracy along caste lines. "All the plum posts are going to the Jats," declares one MLA. Verma loyalists counter the charge by saying the Punjabi troika of Khurana, V.K. Malhotra and K.N. Sahni are upset with the entry of non-Punjabis. A senior bureaucrat, however, agrees that "questionable appointments have been made".

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Khurana loyalists say little work is being done thanks to the bureauracy’s non-cooperation and cite the state government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the dengue epidemic as a case in point. The Dabri firing, in which two people were killed, exacerbated tensions between Verma, Lt Governor P.K. Dave and the bureaucracy. Dave had instituted a task force to clear unauthorised constructions in Delhi. In Dabri, these constructions had come up on gram sabha land, which the residents claimed had been "sold" to them in connivance with two local MLAs. When the constructions were demolished, the denizens resisted and the SDM resorted to police firing. So incensed was the public that BSP chief Kanshi Ram was stoned when he visited the site. The transfer of the SDM has upset bureaucrats.

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With the Congress in disarray, the BJP is fast becoming its own enemy in Delhi. MLA Naresh Gaur, and east Delhi MP B.L. Sharma, who are in rival camps, recently got into a duel over the alleged involvement of chief engineer (irrigation wing) O.P. Sharma in a Rs 20 crore scam.

The anti-Verma camp also accuses him of having orchestrated the campaign against Harsh Vardhan, whose maid, an inmate of Nari Niketan, was reportedly raped (and subsequently had a child) while working in his house. In fact, when Congress MLAs Krishna Tirath and Tajdar Babbar stormed into Nari Niketan without official sanction and spoke with the girl, Verma allegedly protected them by suppressing the file proposing criminal charges against them. Only when the matter was raised at the Delhi apex committee meeting was action taken. Even then, Verma tried to pass the buck on to the Lt Governor, who is now getting flak from the Congress on the issue.

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Khurana, meanwhile, is keen not to appear as disruptor and purveyor of "the Congress culture". Although it was he who (taking shelter behind the RSS) denied ministerial berths to MLAs Purnima Sethi and P.K. Chandla despite pressure from party bigwigs, Khurana was the first to protest against posters dubbing the two as "Vaghelas".

For the moment, a change in leadership has been ruled out. "It could damage us in the municipal polls," MLA Mewa Ram Arya points out. "This is no time for inner party conflicts," agrees Malhotra. But it remains to be seen whether the imperatives of an upcoming election will stop the BJP from shooting itself in the foot.

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