On May 6, two hours into a marathon meeting of the BJP’s Rajasthan core committee in Jaipur, former chief minister and leader of opposition in the state, Vasundhararaje, stormed out of the deliberations. She had a dramatic message for the waiting media contingent: she would resign from the party if her rival and RSS strongman Gulabchand Kataria did not withdraw his proposed statewide yatra. Another state satrap was acting up after B.S. Yediyurappa had done so in Karnataka last month. Not to overlook the fact that Narendra Modi now just ignores the existence of BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
The Jaipur rebellion happened just 24 hours after Gadkari had worked the wires, urging both Raje and Kataria to resolve their issues at the state level. However, it was Gadkari himself who had created the problem by agreeing to flag off Kataria’s 28-day-long yatra slated to begin on May 9. For Raje, this was an indication from the party high command that she had competition for the top job in Rajasthan. And she wasn’t going to take it lying down. Like Yediyurappa, she too is willing to go to the brink with the threat of forming a regional party. It took L.K. Advani and crisis manager Arun Jaitley to placate Raje through Sunday and defuse the situation.
But though this crisis blew over, it’s clearly a summer full of woes for the BJP. When the saffron brigade meets in Mumbai on May 24-25 for its first national executive meeting this year, it will need to do some serious firefighting. The Rajasthan flare-up can’t be seen as a standalone rift between two strong state leaders, unconnected to a larger reality. Senior party leaders see it as a comment on Gadkari’s leadership skills. After all, it’s not the first time state leaders are warring publicly under his watch.
As a senior RSS pracharak explains, “It’s not a pretty picture. Gadkari had been brought in by the Sangh to ensure that the various camps that had emerged within the BJP were managed and powerful individuals in Delhi reined in. That hasn’t happened and state leaders continue to erode central authority. Raje is also known to be challenging the RSS in her state like Modi in Gujarat.
RSS sources say that Gadkari has been given four months to ensure that the rebellion within the party is contained and the president’s authority clearly established. But that seems impossible, as sources confirm that Modi is unlikely to attend the Mumbai meet, continuing his boycott of Gadkari, after he skipped the September meet, making known his displeasure over the reinduction of RSS pracharak Sanjay Joshi.
| 10 Days That Shook BJP | ||
| April 28: Former president Bangaru Laxman convicted in sting operation, sent to jail for four years |
| April 30: Sushma Swaraj goofs up by questioning vice-president Hamid Ansari’s “stature” | ||
| May 3: Former Rajya Sabha deputy leader S.S. Ahluwalia loses Rajya Sabha polls from Jharkhand |
| May 7: CBI asks Supreme Court to try L.K. Advani for the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid | ||
| May 7: Narendra Modi's role in Gujarat riots again in sharp focus after amicus curie report |
The Sangh leadership is worried. Perhaps why RSS ideologue and BJP national secretary Murlidhar Rao has been directed to work as the bridge. Sources confirm that Rao will attend even the parliamentary board meetings of the BJP as the RSS’s representative and try to ensure that the Sangh’s interests are protected. It’s also a desperate move to lend Gadkari a helping hand. This, when it’s still unclear if he’ll be given an extension or a second term as party chief once his term is over in December 2012. One reading is that the RSS’s soft corner for him gives him an edge (see Jump Cut), but many of his decisions have been embarrassing.
These include the induction of Babu Singh Kushwaha, a tainted former minister in Mayawati’s government in Uttar Pradesh; support to NRI businessman Anshuman Mishra in his attempt to get into the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand. Finally, when S.S. Ahluwalia, former deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, stood for the polls, he lost in a state where the BJP has a coalition government with the JMM. Ahluwalia was backed by Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and L.K. Advani, but could not manage the sabotage that followed in Jharkhand. Meanwhile, Adarsh-scam-tainted Ajay Sancheti, a businessman close to Gadkari, has sailed into the House of Elders from Maharashtra.
BJP and RSS seniors add that their lack of coordination and embarrassing conduct over the presidential polls has also left the party without a strategy in a critical election that is a test of political acumen. No one in the BJP is covering themselves or the party in glory.
