Why BJP broke its deal with the Congress

The ascendancy of Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi is being seen in the current moves with a much more aggressive BJP now in the mood to take on the Congress. Renu Mittal reports

Internal changes going on within the Bharatiya Janata Party were reflected in Parliament on Tuesday when the Opposition party broke its unstated compromise with the Congress that neither party would target the children of senior leaders.

Much to the unhappiness of the once all-powerful section of BJP leaders, the main opposition party targeted Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and wanted to raise the issue of irregularities involved in Vadra buying a huge amount of land in Rajasthan.

The BJP had given notices in both Houses of Parliament for suspension of the Question Hour to discuss the alleged anomalies in Vadra's land deal in Rajasthan.

Vadra's brother-in-law Rahul Gandhi was present in the Lok Sabha when BJP members stormed into the well of the House carrying placards saying, "Finance Minister, adopt the formula of son-in-law; earn sitting at home and reduce losses".

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With the BJP making its intention of not letting Parliament run clear, the chair adjourned the House and no work could be transacted.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Rajiv Shukla have said that both Houses would run on Wednesday.

Interestingly, while articles and stories on Vadra have been doing the rounds and a great deal of information on his business dealings has been in the public domain, the BJP had, so far, refrained from making an issue of it, possibly because the Congress had never hit out against Atal Behari Vajpayee's son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya or against the two Advani children, even though Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had once spoken and said the Congress also has a lot of information and can use it if it wants.

But the fact is that the Congress has never wanted to make a public issue of the activities of these children and in return the BJP had also been circumspect.

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But sources in the BJP say that the regime change in the party appears to have created a different situation. The virtual sidelining of L K Advani and Sushma Swaraj appears to be behind the change.

The ascendancy of Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi is being seen in the current moves with a much more aggressive BJP now in the mood to take on 10, Janpath (Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's residence). There are very few takers for the Congress claim that Vadra is a private individual and that the party has nothing to say on the subject and would not be willing to discuss it in Parliament. 

Speculation was rife in Parliament on why now? Why has the BJP decided to attack Vadra even though the first article on his real estate dealings and his business interests appeared two years back in a financial daily?

The BJP leadership at that time had refrained from taking up the issue. With English news channel Headlines Today once again showing the Vadra deals and prominently mentioning the acquisitions made by him in Rajasthan, the BJP decided to stall Parliament on the issue and not allow it to run for the day.

The BJP's aggression and decision to target the Gandhi family is being seen by Congress leaders as a Rajnath-Modi agenda and the perception is that it will continue to surface in one form or the other in the run up to next year's general elections.