“Unrealistic” demands and claims staked by the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership’s realisation that a tie-up would not augur well for its prospects in the Assembly elections are understood to have ruptured the BJP-BJDS alliance in the State.
According to BJP sources, the fledgling BJDS has been staking tall claims and also demands which are disproportionate to its clout in the 140 Assembly segments across the State. Though the BJP has announced its intentions to field candidates in all constituencies, the leadership is understood to have resolved to lay accent on 10 segments, mostly in Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad and Kasargod districts. The BDJS is not a force to be reckoned with in any of these districts.
Moreover, the alliance is feared to alienate the BJP from its captive vote base comprising members of the forward communities, mainly the Nair Service Society (NSS), the Brahmana Sabha and such others. The alliance was expected to help the BJP make considerable gains in Kollam, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki and parts of Ernakulam districts. Though the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam wields considerable clout in all districts, all members of the Yogam are not essentially members of the BDJS and hence it is felt to be imprudent to concede to its demands, sources say.
The gains made by the BJP in the local government elections in the Central Travancore region are being attributed to the consistent efforts of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which had managed the election machinery.
The alliance made at the behest of the BJP national leadership, without taking the State leaders into confidence, had come in for criticism.
Almost all prominent State leaders were opposed to the alliance and were sceptical about its prospects. Some of them had expressed reservations in ceding the political space it had earned over the years. But the national heads refused to heed and went ahead.
The decision to sever its ties with the BDJS would give sufficient leeway for the BJP to open parleys with other parties and help to crystallise an alliance that would brighten its poll prospects, party sources say.