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CORRIDOR
Beware : Big
Brother is watching !
By
THE VERDICT TEAM
THE SAFFRON brigade is
very serious. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bosses in the capital
are serious about the rebels. Taking a lesson out of the Bihar mode,
the party, which is aiming to march to victory in the next Lok Sabha
election, started a brainstorming session to plan a smooth way to
counter the enemy within.
Bihar is the latest
case where the BJP MLAs and MLCs voiced their dissent against the
party's state leadership. Deputy Chief Minister and legislature party
chief Sushil Modi had angered BJP MLAs when he failed to strike a good
bargain with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the last cabinet reshuffle
a month ago. Nitish, who belongs to the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and
is part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), gave plum
portfolios to his men.
The simmering
rebellion reached a crescendo and forced the BJP to appoint two senior
leaders, M Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj, to handle the crisis. For
the first time in the party's history a secret ballot was held to test
whether Modi had the support of the MLAs.
"He is too close to
Nitish and so fails to pursue the BJP's cause. Nitish is taking undue
advantage of this," opined a BJP MLA from Bihar.
Declaring Modi a
winner in the poll, the party announced status quo. But party insiders
confirmed that Modi had lost badly - he reportedly got only 29 of the
69 votes - and the matter was hushed up for the time being.
"The matter is clear
and there is nothing left to clarify. The party workers' grievances
will be redressed," said BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Bihar is not the first
case. The rebellion in the Gujarat unit of the BJP during the assembly
elections is still fresh in public memory. On December 22, just two
days before the poll results were to be declared, the BJP took action
against four Lok Sabha MPs. While Keshubhai Patel and Kashiram Rana
were issued show-cause notices, Vallabhai Kathiria and Somabhai Patel
were suspended from the primary membership of the party.
While in Bihar Sushil
Modi failed to assert himself, in Gujarat the party's other Modi
(Gujarat CM Narendra Modi) was over zealous.
"Modi is special for
us," confessed party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad about Modi's
increasing indispensability. Though Narendra Modi's resounding victory
buried the issue, BJP leaders say the party may have forever lost
support of a section of the Patel community.
However, it is
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which go to the polls in November, that
have the party fretting. In Rajasthan, BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara
Raje's dictatorial (some say monarchical) ways have antagonised the
party leaders. Raje, who belongs to the Scindia royal family, has
hardly minced words telling she is the boss.
To placate the other
faction - which has the open support of Jaswant Singh, former external
affairs minister and senior BJP leader - the central leadership
appointed Om Prakash Mathur as Rajasthan unit head early this year.
Even in the recent
Gujjars' agitation in the State demanding Scheduled Tribe status, the
BJP unit was divided. The party entrusted Mathur with the
responsibility of negotiating with Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsala
to end the crisis.
Raje even spoke
against party leaders - without naming them - at the national council
and national executive meetings in January. She went a step further
during the national executive this month by staying away from it.
In Madhya Pradesh the
BJP is in the same predicament. Ever since Uma Bharati left the BJP to
form her own Bharatiya Janshakti Party in 2005, it has lacked a fiery
leader. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is not seen as a
strong-enough leader to fight anti-incumbency in the state.
“Chauhan became Chief
Minister without any ministerial experience. He is like a player who
was inducted into the Test cricket team without playing a Ranji Trophy
(state level) match,” commented a senior leader, preferring anonymity.
With such rebellions
the BJP's victory juggernaut may run aground at the most crucial
juncture - the Lok Sabha elections of May 2009.
MLA THREATENED
HERE IS a story from
the financial and entertainment capital of India. In a significant
development, while the Mumbai police and the State government itself
are busy scrutinising the alleged involvement of the
underworld-builders mafia into its Slum Rehabilitation programme, a
former Home Minister complained that he has been threatened by a
builder. Interestingly the sitting MLA Kripashankar Singh, who is in
the race for the coveted Mumbai Pradesh Congress Committee president
post has filed an FIR against builder Anil Agarwal for “criminal
intimidation”.
The developer who is
constructing a commercial complex in Agarwal Market in Santacruz,
western suburbs of Mumbai allegedly violated Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporations (BMC) standing orders on construction.
Singh, who is the
local MLA, on request of residents in the surrounding areas,
approached the builder and asked him to adhere to the BMC’s standing
orders and requested him to construct a compound wall before starting
the construction. However, according to Singh the builder dared Singh
with consequences and also threatened the MLA that he would ‘fix’
him. When the police interfered the builder was not in a mood to obey
the “orders” of local MLA. Now the matter is in the court.
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