JOIN USLess than a year ago, on April 5 to be precise, an sms emanating from the BJP website www.lkadvani.in, made a solemn promise to voters ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections: Terror-free India, hunger-free society, debt-free farmer, worry-free middle class, Income Tax exemption benefit for 3.5 crore families with incomes up to Rs 3 lakh a year, student loans at 4 per cent and Advani as prime minister, if voted to power.
In short, the BJP promised ‘Ram rajya,’ though it skirted the Ramjanmabhoomi controversy. Of course, the party did not have to meet its promises as it suffered its second consecutive defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Instead, it went for a generational shift with veteran L K Advani making way for Sushma Swaraj as leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the lacklustre Rajnath Singh being replaced as party president by a much younger Nitin Gadkari.
Like the story of the Emperor’s delusion that he is wearing new clothes, the BJP continues to make new promises, targeting the next Lok Sabha polls in 2014. The party’s national council meeting in Indore, gave Gadkari his first big platform after taking charge, to broadcast his gameplan.
Mosque for mandir
He spoke of increasing the party’s vote share by 10 per cent by breaking new ground, envisioned a grand Ram temple at the demolished Babri masjid site in Ayodhya if Muslims showed generosity towards Hindu sentiment to herald a new amity, handed out the olive branch to dalits by invoking B R Ambedkar and making a special mention of disgraced former party chief Bangaru Laxman, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste.
In a display of well practised large heartedness, which he prescribed as an essential ingredient of statesmanship, the new BJP chief even offered to build a mosque in the vicinity of the Ram temple, that is if space permitted it. Gadkari also announced a scheme of awards for the best performers among the party’s office bearers at various levels, elected representatives and even ministers.
So, it might be said that the die has been cast to take on the Congress, whose front line comprising Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, has grown stronger by the day since the party’s LS poll win in May last. “Ours is not a dynastic party,” said Gadkari, obviously flaying Rahul’s inherited political lineage, which includes three prime ministers.
Gadkari’s ire is understandable, considering the BJP’s own dilapidated front line with Advani fading into the background, his detractor Mohan Bhagwat controlling the BJP’s ideological moorings — the RSS, and a still unsure Gadkari himself at the helm. Bringing in Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley as leaders of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha respectively, is an indicator that the BJP is planning for the future but the second line leaders, including Venkaiah Naidu and Ananthkumar, rarely see eye to eye.
Make no mistake, all this is having its direct impact on Karnataka. A conspiracy is on within the ruling BJP in the state, not involving the usual suspects — the Bellary Reddy siblings and their comrade Sriramulu. It is being coordinated meticulously, with the plotters taking the view that the upcoming budget and other engagements on the anvil, such as the municipal and panchayat elections, cabinet reshuffle, boards’ and corporations’ appointments etc, are less important than destabilising Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, in the hope of replacing him.
Whether it will work, or whether Yeddyurappa will manage to reassert his authority, no one can be sure, though the hunch is that it’s not going to be easy to unseat him.
Enjoying support
Yeddyurappa enjoys overwhelming support from his powerful Lingayat community, which has begun to look upon him as their long-lost leader. The RSS’ Karnataka unit is flush with Lingayat leaders as well, making it a double advantage for Yeddyurappa. So, any uncouth move to replace the chief minister will not augur well for the party. Hence, the strategising to engineer his own fall.
The first salvo was fired during Gadkari’s recent visit, it is said. When the new chief told partymen to stop infighting and anti-party activities, an impromptu group meeting was promptly staged by an Ananthkumar protege to convey the impression of disunity and lack of control within the state unit.
The replacement of Yeddyurappa’s trusted lieutenant and state chief Sadananda Gowda with K S Eshwarappa, a known baiter, was another strategy to disarm the chief minister. But Yeddyurappa retaliated by taking charge of the lucrative energy portfolio, which was held by Eshwarappa as minister.
The next bid is to control the party ticket distribution for the corporation election. Some anti-Yeddyurappa camp loyalists have been strategically positioned for this, says the rumour mill.
The total disarray of the BJP at the national level and the absence of any immediate future for the party are the main reasons behind the renewed clamour for power in the state. The seeds of fresh dissent have been sown. Post-budget climate will decide who might reap the harvest.