New Delhi, June 18: The war raging in BJP now threatens to spill over to the states, raising the prospect of the satraps seeking to exploit the vulnerability
of the central leadership to have their way in their own factional battles.
The threat appeared real on Wednesday when Uttarakhand leader B S Koshiyari resigned his Rajya Sabha seat in what is seen as a precursor to a determined bid to wrest the chief ministership from his rival, B C Khanduri.
While Koshiyari, considered to be more popular among MLAs than Khanduri, could never reconcile himself to playing the second fiddle in the state, his current move seems to have been inspired by the turmoil at the Centre.
Sources said that Koshiyari who presented the leadership with a fait accompli on the resignation issue may now push for the ticket for an assembly by-election.
The development is sure to aggravate the battle for the control of the BJP in the hill state and can intensify a similar power struggle in Karnataka at a time when the leadership is distracted by a feud which has sapped its authority. Even as the party leadership on Wednesday announced a meeting of the national executive as scheduled, concern was escalating that the fighting for who gets to control the principal opposition party may not abate.
In fact, sources in the party fear that the real fight may be joined only now as BJP gets down to decide who takes over from Rajnath Singh as the party chief. With indications suggesting that the RSS leadership could now be looking at passing on the baton to a new face, there may be renewed conflagration among the middle-rung leaders looking for a leadership role. Veterans are not considered to be in the reckoning, but will join the fight nevertheless, lending their shoulders to rival claimants.
As per the timeframe drawn by RSS leadership, the question of who succeeds Rajnath Singh is likely to be settled in September. The decision is to be taken at a meeting that RSS has scheduled in Varanasi.
With Rajnath Singh being ruled out because of the term limit under the party constitution, Arun Jaitley is considered to be the frontrunner. The defeat in Delhi polls and the failure of the Lok Sabha campaign that he oversaw has taken the sheen off his credential as a strategist. That he is yet to contest a direct election, Lok Sabha or assembly, is seen as a handicap along with the concerns about his health.
However, the former law minister still seems to enjoy the support of RSS chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat as well as L K Advani. Jaitley, according to sources, scores high on integrity, and is favoured also because of his equations with party leaders, many of them peers since his ABVP days. But the assessment is seen as flawed by many, including those who have questioned his elevation as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha just after the failure of the poll campaign he led. Also, there are divisions within the RSS as well as doubts that its choice will not be contested by the rival aspirants.
–Agencies