Power Struggle In BJP

The newly elected president of Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh, has appealed to his party colleagues to stop talking about the Prime Ministerial candidate publicly. Poor leader had left with no choice as everybody who is anybody in his party was thinking aloud and blaring out some or other name as the prospective candidate for the next Prime Minister of India. They included former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, former Union Minister Shatrughan Sinha and now suspended former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani.

Ever since the talk of impending parliamentary elections started making rounds in the country, the BJP leaders have jumped one by one into discussing the probable names of the next PM. They were buoyed by the recent victory registered by the party under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Since 1996, the BJP is fighting parliamentary elections, and to some extent even state assembly elections as well, by projecting some or other leader. From 1996 t0 2004, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2009, Lal Krishna Advani was projected as contender. Now, a majority of the party workers look to Modi as their savior who could end their drought of power for 10 years.

It is true that L K Advani is till around the corner. But his name is not a sure-shot prescription for the electoral victory. Advani, a veteran of elections ever since India became a Republic, is 85 today. Though he is in good stead physically and his vigor for the post is well known, the defeat in the last elections under his leadership gave a heavy blow to his claim.

Another problem plaguing the party is it is nowhere able to come to power on its own. It leads a coalition of over a dozen parties, called National Democratic Alliance. Till now, because of its sheer size, BJP had an automatic claim on the PM's post. Within last decade, many of the coalition partners of the NDA have ruled their states, gathering appreciation and public support, and in turn became a good challenger for the post. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, is one such example.

By bringing back Bihar to the path of governance after a long spell of virtual bankruptcy and lawlessness, Nitish Kumar has upped his stakes and looks towards the coveted highest post in the country, which is more than obvious. He sees Modi as a strong competitor and tries to undermine his standing by resorting to secularism. Modi, with his 11-year rule and appreciation from all quarters for his management of the government in Gujarat, has a major black spot on his robe in the form of riots in February 2002 which allegedly killed over 1000 Muslims in that state. Even though he has attracted quite a following among industrialists, political workers and in public, the media and intelligentsia are not ready to mend their fences with him and he is constantly reminded of this dark past.

During the assembly election campaigning last month, Modi constantly took jibes at Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the mother-son duo of the ruling Congress party at center. It was an open gesture of reminding his party and others that his eyes were set on New Delhi. Being only Chief Minister of BJP who wrested victory for third consecutive term is an achievement which automatically catapulted him to the larger role. Even though BJP has a plethora of leaders at New Delhi including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jetli et al, none of them command such a mass following as Modi. Hence, he becomes the natural contender for the PM's post.

Now the question is, would BJP leaders accept him as their leader. Rajnath Singh's appeal to stop the chattering is an indication that they have not as yet!