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State of NDA : BJP infighting

	September 29, 2003

The recent Rae Bareli special court verdict on the demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya directing the CBI to file chargesheets against Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and six others has triggered infighting in the Bharatiya Janata Party and party stalwarts are eagerly awaiting the return of Prime Minister to hear his final say on Joshi’s resignation.

According to reports, the Prime Minister who is arriving in the Capital on Sunday, is keeping his cards close to his chest on this sensitive issue.

Other issues which the Prime Minister is expected to tackle on his return are Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s threat to take action under POTA against Union Minister M. Kannapan of MDMK, a constituent of NDA and worsening ties with DMK another constituent of the ruling alliance.



Joshi’s resignation episode

Joshi’s resignation from Vajpayee Cabinet has, in fact, put the whole Sangh Parivar (RSS family) on its toes. Apparently perturbed over the issue, the Sangh chief K.S. Sudarshan had a two-and-a-half hour long meeting with Joshi on the night of September 25. During this meeting, the powerful Sangh chief is reported to have learnt that several BJP leaders were reluctant to even meet the Minister.

“Here was Joshi, who had taken a moral stand and resigned from the Government after the Rae Bareli court did not discharge him (as it did Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani) in the Babri Masjid demolition case, and the party did not even bother to involve him while evolving a stand on the court’s verdict. Why hadn’t they invited Joshi and the others in the case”, Sudarshan asked party chief Venkaiah Naidu, and why Joshi had to learn about it from the media?

This was in contrast to the declaration by RSS spokesman Ram Madhav that the RSS would not interfere in the matter. Incidentally, Madhav’s proximity to Naidu is a talking point within the BJP; and that Naidu is an acolyte of Advani is no secret. It was apparent that sides were being taken in the Sangh Parivar.

Joshi, a former BJP president, visited his parliamentary constituency, Allahabad, on Sept. 21, and received a massive show of support. RSS frontal organisations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, and the Vidya Bharti (which controls thousands of schools all over the nation) were the first to call on Joshi after he resigned; the SJM’s Murlidhar Rao and the VHP’s Acharya Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmia and Ashok Singhal have been in constant touch with Joshi.

In contrast, no one from the BJP establishment even ventured near Joshi’s house. They include Advani, Naidu, Jaswant Singh, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Arun Shourie, Ram Naik and Rajnath Singh.



Joshi to move High Court

Meanwhile, according to reports on Sept. 28, the HRD Minister is likely to move the Allahabad High Court on Monday for a review of the Rae Bareli court’s order to frame charges against him in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

Sources close to Joshi said the appeal would be made only on his behalf. It will not be a collective plea for the other co-accused who include VHP leaders Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Ashok Singhal and Acharya Giriraj Kishore and the BJP’s Uma Bharti and Vinay Katiyar. This is because the verdict treated them as separate entities.

BJP sources believe the main reason why Joshi has decided to file a review petition is to get a stay order, which would make it easier for the Prime Minister to reject his resignation.

Vajpayee has spoken to Joshi a couple of times from the USA, and Brajesh Mishra is constantly abreast of the developments. Vajpayee obviously has a difficult decision ahead of him, with the different scenarios that could emerge. And, Advani’s camp remains a formidable foe for Joshi. But it remains an opportunity for Vajpayee to change power equations in the BJP. It’s the PM’s call now.



Cracks develop in BJP : It is Advani vs. Joshi

According to observers, cracks appear to have emerged in the BJP, once known as the party with a difference, with the establishment on one side and the cadres on the other.

Inadvertently - or, some say, by design - the resignation has pitted Joshi, who has returned the Sangh Parivar’s favourite ideological issue to the fore, against Advani, whose proteges control the BJP machinery. And, unprecedentedly, it’s a match Prime Minister Vajpayee will have to referee. Vajpayee’s own differences with his Deputy have been the subject of so much media speculation, and so his task gets tougher as both sides look for a favourable decision.

Like a seasoned player, Joshi has left the onus of his continuance in government on Vajpayee. He knows the initiative has been wrested from Advani, and things could change in the BJP for Joshi if the PM sides with him. In this, the cadre support has made things easier.

The opposing camp is not going to give in that easily. It is more organised and structured and can influence media perceptions - it is, after all, the BJP establishment. There are already whispers that Vajpayee is unhappy with the resignation because it was done in his absence and against the party’s wishes; the PM would have otherwise rejected the resignation, as he did with Railways Minister Nitish Kumar.



Clouds of leadership controversy hover again

Meanwhile, the shadow of the ‘Loh Purush-Vikas Purush’ controversy hovered once again over the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters recently after the remarks of Prime Minister Vajpayee in New York that he could soon join the long list of former Prime Ministers in India. “There are several former Prime Ministers in our country and soon another one will be added to the list. But whatever I do, I will do it with dignity, Vajpayee reportedly said.

This time the BJP has not waited for the Prime Minister’s return. Party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the party would certainly contest the next Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of Vajpayee and that he would be the next Prime Minister. A few months ago, when Vajpayee was abroad, a major controversy arose after the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, said that in the next elections the party would project the twin leadership of Vajpayee as ‘Vikas Purush’ (Development Man) and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani as ‘Loh Purush’ (Iron Man).

In a subtle way, the party had hinted that the two leaders were on a par in their stature. On his return, Vajpayee’s remarks that Advani would lead the party left everyone in the party in a confused state and Naidu himself rushed to clarify that Vajpayee alone would lead the party. Vajpayee’s response to the controversy and Naidu’s later clarification underlined the fact that there was indeed some kind of a tussle at the very top in the BJP.

Vajpayee’s innocuous remark in New York, reportedly made at a reception hosted for him by the Indian Ambassador, Lalit Mansingh, could once again reopen that controversy. Recently, those in the party considered close to the Prime Minister pointed out that Vajpayee may not have liked the idea of Naidu calling a meeting of all Ministers at his residence, as he did on September 15, to discuss party issues and direct them to participate in the party programme - “gaon gaon chalo, ghar ghar chalo abhiyan” (Campaign to go to every village, every home)

It was pointed out that since Vajpayee was the leader of the parliamentary wing it was unusual for Naidu to have chaired a meeting of Ministers. Advani attended the meeting, but Vajpayee did not fuelling the latest round of speculation.



Ties with DMK/MDMK

The other issues which the Prime Minister is expected to face is the worsening ties with DMK and MDMK, the two NDA partners from Tamil Nadu.

The BJP ties are worsening day by day with the DMK. The party has accused the DMK of violating the coalition dharma (duty) and causing hurtful confusion within the NDA by seeking the repeal of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) after having supported its enactment.

The DMK was in a catch-22 position with regard to its continuance in the NDA even while agitating against the law enacted by the Vajpayee Government. This cannot be allowed to continue as Lok Sabha elections are due next year, BJP national secretary L.Ganesan told reporters in Chennai.

Ganesan is one of the many votaries in the Tamil Nadu BJP unit recommending snapping of ties with the DMK and joining hands with Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s AIADMK. The recent DMK announcement of a “jail-bharo” (fill jails) agitation on December 1, in support of its demand for POTA repeal, was against coalition principles, Ganesan argued, adding that as a NDA constituent, the DMK could have waited for the return of the Prime Minister to sort out matters instead of taking such a belligerent stand on a Central legislation.

"The BJP will never throw out an ally,” Ganesan snapped, when asked if his party was contemplating breaking the DMK alliance. Already, DMK president M. Karunanidhi has been maintaining a rather peculiar stance that his party would have nothing to do with the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit because the parivar there is flirting with arch rival Jayalalitha - while continuing the alliance at the national level since Prime Minister Vajpayee is a “nice man.”

The DMK had also launched a broadside against the Centre for not conceding the demand for repeal of POTA and remaining indifferent to the “misuse of the anti-terrorist law by the Jayalalitha Government to jail Opposition leaders, including Vaiko of the MDMK. The CM is also contemplating action under the POTA against another MDMK nominee in the government Kannappan for allegedly supporting the LTTE of Sri Lanka, a charge denied strongly by the Minister.

The manner in which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has threatened to invoke the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) against Union Minister of State M. Kannappan for his statement in support of Sri Lankan Tamils has shocked political analysts. This is cited as yet another example of her arrogance and abrasive style of functioning. Parliament enacted POTA with a view to tackling terrorism. But here is a Chief Minister who has the audacity to misuse the law to settle scores with her political opponents. Clearly, there is no let-up in her drive against LTTE-enthusiasts.

She first rounded up MDMK leader Vaiko and then Tamil nationalist Nedumaran. Just as Vaiko was arrested under POTA for a speech he made, Kannappan is also being charged for a statement he made at a book release function in Chennai on September 16. The Union Minister is believed to have stated that the MDMK will continue to extend its “moral support” to the LTTE in its fight to safeguard the interests of Tamils in Sri Lanka. He, however, clarified that the MDMK never supported the LTTE’s “violent activities” on the Indian soil.

A close look at the statement will suggest that Kannappan has not delivered a speech that can be dubbed as anti-national. But then, Ms Jayalalithaa has her own ways of dealing with her political opponents. And POTA has come in handy for her to fix them. The unsavoury episode is bound to affect the Centre-state relations and put the ruling BJP in a tight spot as the MDMK is a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance which runs the government at the Centre. Ms Jayalalithaa’s warning to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that she will go ahead with her action even if Kannappan is not dropped from the Union Council of Ministers smacks of constitutional impropriety, observers point out.

Critics point out that the Centre has not provided adequate safeguards in POTA to check its blatant misuse by leaders like Ms Jayalalithaa.