BJP rebellion in Rajasthan gathers momentum

Even though three more Bharatiya Janata Party legislators have rebelled against Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee feels the ''crisis'' in the northwestern state will blow over soon.

On Monday, Minister of State for Irrigation Punja Lal resigned from the Rajasthan council of ministers.

Vajpayee met Shekhawat, who arrived in Delhi early on Wednesday morning, after undergoing bypass surgery in the United States.

The former prime minister was later joined by BJP president Lal Kishinchand Advani, former president Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana who is the party official in charge of Rajasthan. Rajasthan BJP president Ram Das Agrawal and Deputy Chief Minister M R Bhabra also arrived from Jaipur.

Though it was officially described as a courtesy call, the BJP leadership acquainted Shekhawat with the dissident activities in the state and the measures to be taken to resolve the issue.

Motilal Kharer, Reoti Prasad Koli and Kamal Koli, the three rebel legislators, said they were frustrated by Shekhawat's ''dictatorial style of functioning''. The chief minister, they said, had not called a meeting of the BJP legislature party for the past two years.

Punja Lal, in the presence of two BJP legislators -- Gopichand Gujjar and Rewat Ram Panwar -- had announced his resignation from the Shekhawat ministry on similar grounds.

Kharer, Reoti Prasad Koli and Kamal Koli said the state government had not done anything for the welfare of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward castes in the state while millions of rupees were being spent on the renovation of heritage hotels and rajmahals owned by the state's former maharajas.

The dissidents said they had brought this to Advani and Vajpayee's notice, but they had not been given any assurance about a solution.

The rebels said they would remain in the BJP, but continue to press for Shekhawat's ouster as chief minister. Fortytwo legislators, they said, had expressed their resentment against the chief minister's style of functioning.

"The situation in Rajasthan is worse than what it had been in Gujarat and it will be no surprise if the Gujarat episode is repeated in the state," Gujjar said.

Interestingly, state Janata Dal leader Bhanwar Lal Sharma was present at the dissidents's briefing. He, however, denied a hand in the rebellion, but asserted that more and more legislators would protest against Shekhawat's leadership.

Khurana alleged that ''some political leaders in Delhi with money bags had tried to enact a JMM-type coup. But they had failed in their attempts.''

The chief minister returned to Jaipur on Wednesday afternoon. The party will decide on its course of action after Shekhawat takes stock of the situation.

Agrawal said the BJP leadership has given him a free hand to crush the dissidence.

Asked when disciplinary action will be taken against the dissidents, he said the chief minister would ''expose'' those behind the dissident activity.

''He (Shekhawat) might be physically weak now, but he is mentally alert,'' Agrawal added.

Ironically, the upheaval in Rajasthan comes a couple of days before the BJP leadership meets near Bombay to discuss indiscipline in the party.