BJP leadership worried as Murmurs begin from within
Fall out of Lok Sabha results hurting the ruling party
After the BJP tally came down from 303 to 240 seats in the June 2024 Lok Sabha polls, murmurs from within have started surfacing. If Minister of State (Independent Charge) Rao Inderjit Singh expressed his disgruntlement in public over denial of a Cabinet berth to him, a seven time Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Jigajinagi from Karnataka said he did not know whether it was “justice or injustice” that he was denied a cabinet berth.
Rao Inderjit Singh is a Minister in the Modi government since 2014 and a strong OBC leader of Haryana while Ramesh Jigajinagi belongs to the Dalit community. Rao Inderjit Singh said that the people of Haryana were upset over the fact that he hasn’t been promoted as Cabinet Minister this time either. Ramesh Jigajinagi said, “All upper caste (leaders) became (ministers). Does that mean that Dalits did not support the BJP at all? I am very pained by this.”
Haryana, a state with 10 Lok Sabha seats has three Union Ministers; Manoharlal Khattar (Cabinet) and Krishan Pal Gurjur (MoS) besides Rao Inderjit Singh. It may be mentioned that Assembly polls are due in Haryana this year end. Karnataka with 28 Lok Sabha seats, has been given four ministerial berths; Pralhad Joshi and H.D. Kumaraswamy of the JD-S (Cabinet) while Shobha Karandlaje and V. Somanna are MoS.
The BJP leadership has downplayed comments from these leaders. But there is a growing tendency within the BJP rank & file to express their grievances in public. It may also be mentioned that the RSS leadership was first to speak against personality cult saying “the true Sewak is the one who remains unattached and there is no arrogance that I did this”. The RSS' mouthpiece has become vocal in criticising the functioning of the party twice within a month.
