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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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BJP debates situation in Rajasthan, Bihar

Neena Vyas

Faces problem of taking quick decisions

The party knows that there will be demands for President’s Rule
Bihar dissidents advised to wait for a few more days

NEW DELHI: As the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan shows no signs of fatigue, the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership here is faced with the problem of taking some quick and unpleasant decisions. Although publicly the party is stating there is no question of asking Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to step down, apparently the matter was brought up at a closed door meeting between top leaders.

In Bihar, it is learnt, the besieged Deputy Chief Minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, has conveyed to the party leadership that he was willing to settle the issue of his stepping down if the party’s legislature party were to so express its wish. That issue is hanging fire with 27 to 28 dissidents of a total of 55 MLAs of the party openly demanding that Mr. Modi step down. Mr. Modi, however, has considerable support among the party’s Vidhan Parishad (upper House) MLAs.

On Rajasthan, the BJP leadership here is aware that if matters continue as they are — the entire railway network in the State has come to a standstill, many national highways remain cut off and a helpless State machinery has been dependent on the Army for the last several days to prevent worse incidents of violence — there will be voices at the Centre demanding imposition of President’s Rule. A senior party leader here noted that the Union Minister of State for Home has bluntly told the State that the Centre had done what it could by responding quickly to the demand for Army deployment and that it was up to the State government to manage its affairs.

It is learnt that at a meeting between BJP president Rajnath Singh and Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani just two days ago, the question of a possible change in the party’s leadership in the State was discussed. But it was decided to adopt a wait and watch policy for the moment. “Mr. Advani and Mr. Singh are in daily contact with Chief Minister [Vasundhara] Raje,” party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, describing the Rajasthan situation as “very sensitive.”

Meanwhile, the leaders of the dissident group in Bihar — Nand Kishore Yadav and Ashwini Chaubey — have been promised by the party High Command that it would focus on the State after the Karnataka government is formed. A senior party leader said the leaders would be busy till June 2 with the government formation and the party’s national executive committee meeting and, therefore, the Bihar dissidents had been advised to wait for a few more days.

Said a BJP leader: “The BJP thought projection of Mr. Modi would enlarge the party’s base among the backward castes, but since Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is by far the bigger leader of the backward castes, this did not happen. Simultaneously, the BJP’s upper caste base began to shrink for lack of projection of a leader from the forward castes. Our base has shrunk woefully.” It was a case of “social engineering” that failed, he admitted.

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