BJP fears Gujarat crisis may explode in its face
George Iype in New Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has launched damage control operations in Gujarat even though Industries Minister Suresh Mehta was reportedly inclined to withdraw his resignation from the Keshubhai Patel ministry on Tuesday night.
Fearing that the crisis in Gujarat is a bad omen for the party in the
assembly election in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan this November,
the BJP's central leadership is expected to rein in rival party factions in
the state lest it lead to a serious rebellion.
Mehta had resigned on Monday protesting against the murder of one of his staunch
supporters, Bhauji Jadeja, allegedly by rival BJP members in his home district
Kutch.
In an attempt to pacify an embittered Mehta, BJP vice-president Krishan Lal
Sharma, who was in charge of the state earlier, was sent to Gandhinagar by
the party leadership on Tuesday.
In 1995, a similar crisis turned into a rebellion with rebel leader
Shankarsinh Vaghela splitting the party. BJP leaders fear the factional
infighting which resulted in the fall of a government in Gujarat could now upset
the party's poll prospects in other states.
However, BJP general secretary Venkaiah Naidu felt, ''there is no real
political crisis in Gujarat." "This is a minor problem and it will be
amicably sorted out and settled very soon," he said.
Naidu said BJP president Kushabhau Thakre is in constant touch with all the top
leaders from Gujarat and Mehta is being compelled to re-join the Patel ministry.
"We hope Mehta will rejoin the government once tempers cool
down," he told Rediff On The NeT.
BJP insiders said Mehta, Chief Minister Patel and leaders of the
state's rival factions have been summoned to Delhi on
Wednesday to hold discussions with the party's central leadership.
Despite the BJP leadership's optimism, many in the party fear the infighting in the Gujarat unit is unwelcome at
this juncture considering the November assembly poll, especially in
BJP-ruled Delhi and Rajasthan.
An internal pre-poll assessment within the party predicts that while the BJP
could be routed in Rajasthan, it would completely upset the party's
stronghold in Delhi. Top BJP leaders met at the prime
minister's home on Monday to discuss how the assembly election could jeopardise the
coalition government's future.
Party managers feel that Rajasthan could deliver a major blow if the last Lok
Sabha pattern is repeated in the assembly election. In that election in
February, the BJP bagged only five out of the 25 constituencies in Rajasthan as an
anti-establishment wave swept through the state.
BJP strategists believe the assembly election is crucial for the
party as it is expected to change the shape of the Vajpayee government. "If the BJP is defeated in Delhi and Rajasthan, we feel the Congress's movement to unseat the Vajpayee government will pick up
considerable momentum," a BJP leader admitted.
"Therefore, we do not want to precipitate the Gujarat situation," he
said, adding that the need of the hour is to ensure party discipline.
''State-level feuds in the party give out the message that ours is a party
of non-governance," the BJP leader told Rediff On The NeT.
With the assembly election now less than two months away and the grim
pre-poll mood in Delhi and Rajasthan, a sizeable section of leaders want the
party central leadership to project new chief ministerial candidates in both
states.
Party sources claimed the BJP high command is "dissatisfied"
with Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma's performance in Delhi. Therefore,
the BJP's Delhi unit has recommended that Information and Broadcasting
Minister Sushma Swaraj be projected as the next chief minister of the
capital.
Tell us what you think of this report
|