The BJP is in the throes of virulent factionalism with state satraps pitted against central leaders. Can they get their act together in time?
The story of little known Kuljeet Singh Chahal is symptomatic of how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to sideline potentially popular leaders in favour of its nominated oligarchs. It also provides an insight into the faction ridden ways of the saffron brotherhood and why the party hasn’t yet emerged a serious contender for the 2014 sweepstakes.
Chahal’s entry into politics came through the Delhi University campus. His talent was spotted quite early by party leaders and by the time he was aged 27, he became BJP’s youngest district president in Mayur Vihar. During the last Delhi Assembly elections, he wanted to contest from Vishwasnagar and that is where his troubles began. His claims were overlooked in favour of O. P. Sharma, political adviser to BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley. Chahal was then nominated as Secretary of the Delhi unit of BJP but subsequently embroiled in a fake case after which he was sacked.
Scores of young and upcoming leaders have similarly been sacrificed at the altar of factional politics engineered by top leaders, which, in turn, threatens to gnaw at the very foundations of the party. Most media discussions, which focus on the roles of the BJP state satraps – B. S. Yeddyurappa, B. C. Khanduri, Vasundhara Raje Scindia & Narendra Modi – miss the larger picture: the ongoing, no-holds barred tussle between the BJP central leadership and its popular Chief Ministers (CMs), who may lack the elan in stylish TV debates, but more than make up for it with their mass support in the states. Says A. P. S. Chauhan, professor and head of the department of political science at the Gwalior-based Jivaji University, “The battle of attrition between central leaders and popularly elected ones is three decades old... For the BJP, it means real trouble.’’
Top central leaders of the party are too squeamish about contesting elections and prefer safe passage into the Rajya Sabha. The ones who win can only do so if they have the support of the state leaders. In fact, one of the frontrunners for the Prime Minister’s chair, Arun Jaitley, is also from the Rajya Sabha. Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had to go as far as Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh to win an election with the support of CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan. L. K. Advani is dependent on Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to pull his political chestnuts out of the Gandhinagar fire, while Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh have had to change constituencies to avoid defeat.
Public statements by Yeddyurappa, Vasundhara Raje and Gujarat veteran Keshubhai Patel make no bones about vicious infighting within the party rank and file. State-level leaders, often at the receiving end of central diktats, have had enough. Top BJP leaders well ensconced in their air conditioned rooms in Delhi are hell bent on putting mass leaders in their place, even if it seriously damages the party’s poll prospects.
The story of little known Kuljeet Singh Chahal is symptomatic of how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continues to sideline potentially popular leaders in favour of its nominated oligarchs. It also provides an insight into the faction ridden ways of the saffron brotherhood and why the party hasn’t yet emerged a serious contender for the 2014 sweepstakes.
Chahal’s entry into politics came through the Delhi University campus. His talent was spotted quite early by party leaders and by the time he was aged 27, he became BJP’s youngest district president in Mayur Vihar. During the last Delhi Assembly elections, he wanted to contest from Vishwasnagar and that is where his troubles began. His claims were overlooked in favour of O. P. Sharma, political adviser to BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley. Chahal was then nominated as Secretary of the Delhi unit of BJP but subsequently embroiled in a fake case after which he was sacked.
Scores of young and upcoming leaders have similarly been sacrificed at the altar of factional politics engineered by top leaders, which, in turn, threatens to gnaw at the very foundations of the party. Most media discussions, which focus on the roles of the BJP state satraps – B. S. Yeddyurappa, B. C. Khanduri, Vasundhara Raje Scindia & Narendra Modi – miss the larger picture: the ongoing, no-holds barred tussle between the BJP central leadership and its popular Chief Ministers (CMs), who may lack the elan in stylish TV debates, but more than make up for it with their mass support in the states. Says A. P. S. Chauhan, professor and head of the department of political science at the Gwalior-based Jivaji University, “The battle of attrition between central leaders and popularly elected ones is three decades old... For the BJP, it means real trouble.’’
Top central leaders of the party are too squeamish about contesting elections and prefer safe passage into the Rajya Sabha. The ones who win can only do so if they have the support of the state leaders. In fact, one of the frontrunners for the Prime Minister’s chair, Arun Jaitley, is also from the Rajya Sabha. Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had to go as far as Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh to win an election with the support of CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan. L. K. Advani is dependent on Gujarat CM Narendra Modi to pull his political chestnuts out of the Gandhinagar fire, while Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh have had to change constituencies to avoid defeat.
Public statements by Yeddyurappa, Vasundhara Raje and Gujarat veteran Keshubhai Patel make no bones about vicious infighting within the party rank and file. State-level leaders, often at the receiving end of central diktats, have had enough. Top BJP leaders well ensconced in their air conditioned rooms in Delhi are hell bent on putting mass leaders in their place, even if it seriously damages the party’s poll prospects.
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