Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue R. Balasankar’s outburst against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State leadership and his sneaking suspicion that the party has a tacit deal with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] is likely to impact the prospects of the BJP in the Assembly polls.
In its defence, the State BJP leadership, including party chief K. Surendran and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, has explained that his statement could have stemmed from the denial of the Chengannur seat. However Mr. Balasankar’s premise has provided plenty of ammunition to the Congress party which has often alleged that the BJP and the CPI (M) have worked out a covert deal in the elections. The Congress leaders have taken it up as a campaign issue wherever the party is in direct fight with the CPI(M) in the polls. But the Left Democratic Front has dismissed the allegation as baseless.
For the BJP’s State unit, its leadership fears that the allegation will possibly lead to a situation where the party will lose a major chunk of Hindu votes, especially those of the Nair community, to the Congress in Central Travancore districts.
Part of parleys
In fact, it was Mr. Balasankar who has been trying to facilitate the parleys between the RSS leadership and the Nair Service Society, which has been successful to a great extent. He was also involved in the dialogues with the Orthodox faction as part of the BJP’s months-long bid to build an engagement with the Christian Church.
A fallout of Mr. Balasankar’s statement is that the BJP machinery will now have to marshal multiple resources to retain the over 42,000 votes the party secured in Chengannur in the 2016 Assembly polls. To prevent the flow of votes of the BJP sympathisers to the Congress-led coalition, the RSS leadership, already in a damage-control mode, may have to come up with a counter strategy.
A section of the RSS leadership believes that continuity of the Pinarayi Vijayan government would pave way for the further growth of the BJP in the State on the perception that many Congress leaders would desert the party after the Assembly polls.
Central leadership
Meanwhile, the BJP Central leadership has vowed to look into Mr. Balasankar’s explosive statement that the State unit functioned like a mafia. Incidentally he was also a frontrunner to the BJP State president’s post twice. Now it will have to introspect what has been plaguing the faction-ridden party in the State all these years — whether it was run by a inexperienced younger generation without political maturity and guidance. However, what confuses the Central leadership is that the two factions team up to divide among its leaders what the party believes are winnable seats.
