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Cracks in NDA : BJP worried

	August 13, 2007

The BJP is deeply worried about more and more allies leaving the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Observers say senior leaders are of the view that the party cannot afford to lose partners across the country and will have to take steps to arrest this trend much before the Lok Sabha elections due in 2009, but which may come earlier in view of the Congress-Left differences on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.



While the recent presidential election exposed the BJP’s inability to break fresh ground, the decision of some of its allies to stay aloof has caused concern among the top leaders. What is worse, the “third front”, which has traditionally hurt the Congress, has this time badly affected the BJP.



The United National Progressive Alliance has taken away BJP allies like the Telugu Desam Party, All India Anna DMK and the Lok Dal, weakening the Opposition NDA rather than the ruling UPA.



Against this backdrop, the BJP central leadership rebuffed its Maharashtra unit’s demand to snap ties with the Shiv Sena. The Sena is the oldest ally of the BJP and its exit, sources said, would have sent a wrong signal to other parties that have come to the NDA despite ideological reservations.



The controversial interview in which Rajnath Singh talked about RSS control caused so much consternation among top leaders of both the BJP and the Sangh that he had to run from pillar to post to explain his position. He asserted that most of his re¬marks were doctored and concocted.



The belligerent anti-Muslim campaign in Uttar Pradesh, which failed to yield electoral dividends, was also a factor that dissuaded sympathetic parties like the Telugu Desam Party and the Samajwadi Party from running the risk of supporting Shekhawat.



The party has now revived its minority morcha, with Shahna¬waz Hussain as its chief.



The BJP will be taking stock of its ties with Shiv Sena this month when its Maharashtra unit deliberates on the issue of continuing the alliance with its key ally.



Party President Rajnath Singh said in Bhubaneshwar last week that his party’s electoral alliance with the Biju Janata Dal in Orissa will continue in the coming years.





VHP trouble for Narendra Modi



The Gujarat unit of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has decided to stay away from the state Assembly elections scheduled by the year-end. VHP international general secretary Parveen Togadia told VHP workers at a convention in Ahmedabad not to extend any help to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in the coming elections. He said the Modi Government has not done anything to safeguard the interests of Hindus and was just using the commun¬ity to garner votes.



The relations between Togadia and Modi deteriorated after the Chief Minister reportedly refused to allow the VHP activists the share of spoils after the election victory. The cases against the VHP workers filed during the 2002 communal riots were not withdrawn and in a few cases the police were forced to reinvestigate at the instance of the Supreme Court.



Claiming that the VHP support was crucial for the BJP to win elections, Togadia said the BJP had won the last elections owing to the support of the VHP and the Sangh Parivar.



In a rearguard action, Narendra Modi’s loyal Ministers met the RSS second in command, Mohan Bhagwat, last week to seek action to rein in VHP leader Parveen Togadia. The BJP’s central leadership also got into the act with rebel leaders being called to Delhi by general secretary Arun Jaitley for discus¬sions.



RSS state leaders and Narendra Modi have been at logger heads in Gujarat.



Observers say that while the BJP is trying to stem the in¬fighting in its Gujarat unit, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has already put in place her team for handling the Assembly elections in the state. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, Kapil Sibal and Prithvi Raj Chavan will manage the publicity of the party’s campaign in the state.



Among the Gujarat contingent in the central ministry, Shan¬kersinh Vaghela will mind north Gujarat, Narayan Rathwa will look after the south and Dinshaw Patel will manage the campaign in the central region. The Congress suffered a rout in these areas the last time.



No minder has been chosen for Kutch yet but Narhari Amin, president of the Gujarat Cricket Association, will look after Kathiawad.



The Congress president believes that unlike five years ago, the “objective” circumstances “favour” her party this time, a source said.