That all is not well with the state BJP was evident from the fact that the party's central leadership did not even hold organisational elections in Madhya Pradesh. Even without the organisational polls, the supporters of the two leaders had taken to the streets in Bhopal and the BJP central leaders were worried that elections would only exacerbate the tensions in its state unit. Pandey wasthus asked to constitute an ad-hoc body.
But this did not bring about the truce they hoped for. Patwa was furious when BJP national general secretary Kushabhao Thakre announced the ad-hoc committee last week. Kailash Sarang, one of his main followers, against whom the Pandey group labelled charges of corruption, had been left out in the cold. Unhappy as the dissidents were about Pandey being asked to continue as state party president, the constitution of the ad-hoc body was like rubbing salt in their wounds.
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The national leaders have warned the state leaders against any dissident activity. So, there is a pretence of all being well on the surface. But the simmerings and the bickerings cannot be stopped. The Patwa-Pandey battle once again came out in the open recently when efforts were made to put the state president in a spot through apublic interest litigation—circulated to the press by a personal staff member of Patwa—seeking to reopen an old case pending against one of Pandey's close relatives who was arrested with 20 kg of opium.
The battle royale, according to state BJP leaders, has even divided the central leadership, with L.K. Advani, Thakre and Vijayaraje Scindia supporting the Patwa-Sarang-Sardar Angre faction, and Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sunder Singh Bhandari patronising the group comprising Pandey, Kailash Joshi, Pyare Lal Khandelwal and Uma Bharati. "All the talk of selfless ideals of the RSS is just that, talk. It is not reflected in the state. Even the RSS is involved in settling scores," admits a senior BJP leader while talking about the party's affairs in Madhya Pradesh.
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Last year when Sunder Singh Bhandari was put in charge of the state, one of his first moves after taking over was to cut three zonal organising secretaries to size by appointing six more organising secretaries. The result: three powerful pro-Patwa men, Gobind Sarang, Krishan Murari Moghe and Meghraj Jain, refused to work and have not joined till date.
It now remains to be seen which of the two parties in Madhya Pradesh will be more affected by dissidence—the Congress or the BJP—in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. With 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the stakes are high. Luckily for them, there is as yet no viable third force in Madhya Pradesh. But who knows? Both of them could be sent packing by an electorate which is beginning to become disgusted by the constant bickerings.
