Is the clock ticking for BJP ?

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Is the clock ticking for BJP ?

Ramdev dumps BJP, Apna Dal threatens, Zafar Sareshwala distances

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Dec 26

There is no respite for the ruling BJP and suffering one set back after the other. If it lost a key Bihar ally last week-RLSP, today was the turn of Swami Ramdev who turned his back towards the saffron party. He declared in Madurai today that he won't support any person or oppose any party

and can't tell who will be the “Next PM”. Ramdev's comments appear to be a huge rebuff to PM Modi. He has been closely associated with the BJP, besides supporting its national election campaign in 2014. He said "Now the political situation is very difficult.”

Another shocker came from the Apna Dal in UP which is a key ally in the NDA. The party's chief Ashish Patel, whose wife Anupriya Patel is the Union Minister of State for Health, said BJP's partners in Uttar Pradesh are upset and the party must address the issue. He said in Mirzapur that the party must learn from its recent losses in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress formed the government. “ The SP-BSP alliance is a challenge for us. Allies in Uttar Pradesh are upset. Leadership at the centre must do something, else NDA (National Democratic Alliance) would suffer in the state," said Patel.

Obviously Apna Dal is also showing its teeth to BJP leadership with months to go for the 2019 general elections.

The biggest shocker of the day was Yoga teacher Ramdev, who went on to say that it would be difficult to say who will be the next prime minister. "Now the political situation is very difficult. We cannot say who will [be] the next prime minister or who will lead the country, but situation is very interesting..." Ramdev said in Tamil Nadu's Madurai.

"I am not focusing on politics," he said.

"We don't have a political or religious agenda but we want a spiritual country and a spiritual world. Through yoga and Vedic practices, we are making a divine, prosperous and spiritual India," said Ramdev.

What shocked the political watchers was Sareshwala's nuanced statement when he said, “I have been very closely associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for nearly 13 years now. However, my association was always limited to PM Narendra Modi and was never with the BJP – in fact, I have never even visited the party’s office in Gujarat or in Delhi.”

Zafar Sareshwala said that BJP has lost the plot and “things are slipping out of Narendra Modi’s hands.”

ends 

Bade Bhai Munna Bhai

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Narendra Modi revelled for years as the self-proclaimed architect of the "miracle state" of Gujarat, till he woke up to his larger calling as the Prime Minister of India. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of course cuts a lower profile than Modi, though he is better qualified and armed with a consistent track record of imaginative governance. After the Modi tsunami in 2014, there was not much to compare the two men on electoral scoreboard, the BJP-led NDA having cornered 35 of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats, Nitish's JD(U) being left with only two.

Bhagwat takes Shah to task for Bihar drubbing

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Bhagwat takes Shah to task for Bihar drubbing

BJP douses fire; allies, party MP attack RSS chief too

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Nov. 9

The BJP high command tried to douse fire today as the knives are out within the 'Sangh Parivar' after drubbing in Bihar. The marathon meeting of the BJP's Parliamentary Board rather became a tame affair as it did not even 'discuss' taking action against erring leaders like Shatrughan Sinha and R K Singh.

On the contrary, the party had to come out in defence of the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat whose statement on reservations has enraged the BJP's allies. Be it Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM), Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP), Anupriya Patel (Apna Dal) or BJP's own senior party leader Hukumdev Narayan Yadav, all of them publicly criticized Bhagwat for his statement on reservation.

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley put up a stout defence of Bhagwat obliquely by saying that no single statement by any leader could affect the outcome of the Bihar election. He said the die had been cast in Bihar when the three parties - JD(U), RJD and Congress - came together. They had contested in 2014 separately and lost miserably. "This time, they came together and the party lost and this was the biggest reason of the defeat," he asserted.

He also dismissed the suggestions by some that party chief Amit Shah should resign saying, " We have won four state assemblies. We have gained elsewhere in the country." It looked like the BJP leadership is trying hard to buy peace with the party dissidents and hold its horses.

The Parliamentary Board's meeting held at the residence of Amit Shah, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all its 12 members. Though Union minister for water resources Uma Bharti and senior leader Murlidhar Rao wanted swift action against Shatrughan Sinha and party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya who used 'dog' analogy for Shatrughan Singh, creating a ruckus. But it became clear that the party is in no mood to bell the cat when the Prime Minister is busy during the whole month with foreign visits. He leaves for UK and Turkey on November 12 night and goes to Singapore and Malaysia on November 21 and then to Paris on November 30.

In between the Parliament session will begin on November 26. Therefore, it is unlikely that there will be any Cabinet reshuffle before the Parliament session or organisational changes either. Mohan Bhagwat camped in Delhi and met Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad and other ministers to take first hand review of the political situation. Party sources say that Bhagwat was angry as to why the BJP leaders failed to clarify his statement on reservations which was misconstrued and exploited by the Opposition parties.