Party which is supposed to be the most disciplined party is showing all sign of power hungry traits of Indian political Party and now has failed to declare Lok Sabha candidates in UP, Gujarat & Delhi as leaders bicker over seats
RSS goes allm over the place TOM TOMING and takes pride in its discipline, the paralysis that has consumed the Bharatiya Janata Party on seat allocation in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh has become jarring. The man in the middle is prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and the inability of the party to find him a safe seat outside his home state of Gujarat has held up the announcement of no less than 106 Lok Sabha candidates— 26 from Gujarat and 80 from Uttar Pradesh.
The stalemate means that fate of the BJP’s heaviest party guns barring Sushma Swaraj, whose candidature from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh was announced Thursday remains hanging even as marathon meetings have failed to end the deadlock.
BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi’s possible ouster from the safe and significant Varanasi constituency has caused heartburn. Even the tallest saffron leader L. K. Advani has not found re- nomination from Gandhinagar, something he has clearly indicated as his preference.
Consensus eludes the saffron camp; sulking and sullenness has sunk in.
Raising eyebrows
The sniping and swiping continued on Thursday. The party’s parliamentary board meeting saw the Old Guard make the first rush. Strong objections were raised by leaders like Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu to tie- ups with “ dodgy leaders”, hinting at corruption- tainted candidates.
The party had, however, made up its mind to back the iron ore scam- tainted B. S. Sriramulu for the Bellary seat. Swaraj had strongly opposed any alliance or merger with Sriramulu’s BSR Congress, which would mean an association with his mentors, the Reddy brothers, who are in jail over illegal mining allegations. There are also some eyebrows raised on fielding former Karnataka chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa from Shimoga.
Hundreds of BJP workers and supporters of both Modi and Joshi were camped since Thursday morning outside the party headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road and BJP President Rajnath Singh’s house in the capital. Thursday was a key day with the BJP’s national parliamentary board scheduled to take a call on Modi’s candidature from Varanasi. Mail Today learnt that Rajnath Singh’s name is also in strong consideration for Lucknow, a seat the BJP’s Lalji Tandon holds now.
The problem continued to sit like a rock in the heart of the BJP. Joshi won’t go, and Modi and Rajnath can’t move ahead if doesn’t. A new twist to the emergent rift was added on Thursday, with Modi supporters opposing Advani’s candidature from Gandhinagar and calling him an “ outsider”. This is the same trick being put to use by Joshi’s supporters Varanasi. Joshi banks on the strong Brahmin support base in the state, which accounts for nearly 31 per cent its population.
Interestingly, Advani’s “ blueeyed boy’’ Shivraj Singh Chouhan offered the Bhopal seat the party patriarch on Thursday.
It has been kept undecided the list which was announced on Thursday evening after nearly 48 hours of non- stop meetings, including the parliamentary board meeting.
According to Mail Today that the failure to break the logjam over Uttar Pradesh is also because there are two lists of candidates, one prepared by the party in- charge and Modi lieutenant Amit Shah, and another by the rest of Sangh Parivar, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS) and BJP. Despite two rounds of meetings on Wednesday, the BJP Central Election Committee failed to clear the names for Uttar Pradesh. This had an immediate fallout — the Gujarat names were blocked too.
Convince Joshi
Many fear that sooner this needs to be resolved which may require RSS to intervene and organize a patch- up between Advani- inspired Old Guard and the new brigade led by Modi and Rajnath. The RSS is learnt have told Amit Shah to convince Joshi to fight from Kanpur, which is a hard battle and therefore a highly unlikely choice.
The BJP top brass also had a meeting with top RSS functionaries on Thursday. The RSS said to have spoken about softening stands and maintaining harmony among leaders, hinting that “ internal rifts and verbal duels’’ will dampen the momentum BJP has generated just before the Lok Sabha polls.
Thanks Mailtoday and service inputs