Commentary/Rajiv Shukla

In Advani's absence, there is no one to take care of the BJP's interests

Bad times are on the Bharatiya Janata Party. And more is needed to steady it than party president Lal Kishinchand Advani's much-publicised rath yatra against corruption.

In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi, there have been great dissension among the BJP rank and file. Now Gujarat too is adding to the party's troubles.

Unfortunately, the central leadership is turning a blind eye towards what is happening in Gujarat. This might prove to be a big mistake. At this stage the trouble can be easily sorted out; but the task may become difficult later.

In Advani's absence, there is no one in the BJP leadership to take care of party interests. Hence, state unit leaders are doing whatever they feel like.

In Delhi, even as the battle between Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and his predecessor Madan Lal Khurana continues, a new confrontation has begun between party chief Kedarnath Sahni and Vidhan Sabha member Poornima Sethi. Sethi has tendered her resignation from the party and Vidhan Sabha, protesting against Sahni's style of functioning. Advani has not yet accepted her resignation and efforts are on to pursue her to withdraw it. Sahni is learnt to have asked the chief minister as well as the Vidhan Sabha speaker to remove Sethi as chairman of the public accounts committee.

Meanwhile, Khurana's supporters are lobbying hard to get the chief ministership back for him, as he has now been acquitted in the hawala case. They say Khurana had stepped down on the understanding he would be brought back if the court verdict was in his favour. Now Verma is not at all willing to vacate his chair for Khurana, and is playing the Jat vote cards to stay in power. .

In Rajasthan, the battle lines are drawn between Chief Minister Shekhawat's son-in-law Narpat Singh Rajvi and other party leaders. Rajvi has taken action against more that a dozen prominent leaders of the state unit. Even the RSS leadership has not been able to control him.

The 'wronged' leaders include four office-bearers of the state BJP unit, four state ministers and a couple of district presidents as well as the Mahapalika chairman. Rajvi has got a vigilance inquiry going against these leaders. (Ghanshyam Tiwari and Srichand Kripalani are among them.)

Party officials have complained to the BJP leadership about Rajvi's growing influence and unjustified interference. They have demanded that he be removed as the state BJP general secretary. The BJP leadership, for its part, has appointed Jaswant Singh, the party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha . Singh is expected to give his report within a week.

The ministers in the dissident camp include Om Mathur, Lalit Chaturvedi, Bhawar Lal Sharma and Raghuvir Kaushal. After a meeting presided by state president Ramdass Aggarwal, they had demanded Rajvi's as well as Parliament member J P Mathur's removal. Shekhawat removed Mathur from the chairmanship of the 20 point programme committee, but has not taken any action against Rajvi.

In Uttar Pradesh, former chief minister Kalyan Singh has complained to the leadership about the rising level of corruption and the Mayawati government's renaming of the Hatharas and Chitrakoot districts. Several Vishwa Hindu Parishad sadhus have also expressed their displeasure about this. Further, Singh is said to be greatly unhappy about the attitude of certain BJP ministers like Lalji Tandon and Kalraj Mishra who, he says, are taking Mayawati's decision lying down.

As the Congress is badly split In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP could well sweep the next election -- provided they ensure the differences between Sunderlal Patwa and Vikram Verma do not figure in public.

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