Uncivil war in BJP
Piqued Yaswant quits party posts, sends four page missive
Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi June 14 Subday
The BJP ‘national vice president’ Yaswant Sinha sent a four pages missive to the party’s national president Rajnath Singh and added one more dimension in the crisis that the party has been struggling after its nationwide defeat.
Quitting all party posts including national vice president; Sinha asked the central office bearers of the party must quit their posts as the part of moral responsibility of the colossal damage of the party in the general elections.
Quoting a portion of his letter Sinha said that it was seemingly difficult to avoid impression that in the BJP "we put a premium on failure". It was time when the party should be reconstituted.
Sinha also announced his decision to resign as the in-charge of Karnataka affairs and as head of the Foreign Affairs Cell of the party. He seemingly did it in response to senior leader Jaswant Singh's suggestion at a core committee meeting that there should be collective responsibility for failure.
The truth may lie somewhere in between. The well-placed sources in the state BJP said that the phrases like ‘collective responsibility and moral responsibility’ were not the only core reasons that prompted him to take such unusual steps. “Perhaps he was hopeful of getting a key job in the newly constituted BJP parliamentary board, the post of deputy leader to opposition in LS could one of them...but he was pushed to the edge,” a senior state BJP leader twisted a theory adding that it was the part of ongoing bickering between the camps led by Lal Krishna Advani and Rajnath Singh.
Quoting a portion of his letter Sinha said that it was seemingly difficult to avoid impression that in the BJP "we put a premium on failure". It was time when the party should be reconstituted.
Sinha also announced his decision to resign as the in-charge of Karnataka affairs and as head of the Foreign Affairs Cell of the party. He seemingly did it in response to senior leader Jaswant Singh's suggestion at a core committee meeting that there should be collective responsibility for failure.
The truth may lie somewhere in between. The well-placed sources in the state BJP said that the phrases like ‘collective responsibility and moral responsibility’ were not the only core reasons that prompted him to take such unusual steps. “Perhaps he was hopeful of getting a key job in the newly constituted BJP parliamentary board, the post of deputy leader to opposition in LS could one of them...but he was pushed to the edge,” a senior state BJP leader twisted a theory adding that it was the part of ongoing bickering between the camps led by Lal Krishna Advani and Rajnath Singh.
Snowballing to the internal strife of the BJP politics in New Delhi Sinha moved to his home constituency, Hazaribagh; to seek blessing of Goddess Durga for his troubled party. Speaking to the media persons at Ramgarh on Saturday Sinha declined to react over his resignation and reasons that compelled him to do so.
“I will not speak anything about my resignation. It is an internal matter of the party…you can ask and talk about anything other than my resignation. I am here to seek blessing of Goddess Durga for my party, my state and me as well,” Sinha tried to put a lid over the controversy.
What Sinha mumbled before the almighty remained in the confines of the sanctorum? But that could be read between the lines of those carefully crafted sentences of the letter: the BJP the party with difference has lost somewhere.
“I will not speak anything about my resignation. It is an internal matter of the party…you can ask and talk about anything other than my resignation. I am here to seek blessing of Goddess Durga for my party, my state and me as well,” Sinha tried to put a lid over the controversy.
What Sinha mumbled before the almighty remained in the confines of the sanctorum? But that could be read between the lines of those carefully crafted sentences of the letter: the BJP the party with difference has lost somewhere.
"Our reluctance to introspect and introspect comprehensively and openly is unacceptable to a large number of people within the party. So is the rat race for posts. If we are a party with a difference, let us set an example in abnegation."
The BJP often prided its cohesion of view and machinery. This time, both were victims of various degrees of chaos and counter voice.
His resignation is tempted with a suggestion. Rajnath Singh and other office bearers must resign from their post for the collateral damage of the party and Rajnath can not feign his incompetence.
Sinha raised the banner of revolt just before Rajnath Singh addressed a press conference to show a united face of the BJP. During the press conference observers did not miss an equally latent warning of disciplinary actions against those who go to the media to air their differences within the party.
Speaking over telephone from New Delhi a senior BJP MP who is close to Rajnath Singh termed the resignation as a pressure tactics to put Rajnath Singh in the tight spot.
“Leaders like Sinha who enjoys fruits of politics without really doing any ground work often resorts to such tactics. His resignation will be no help the party but he succeeded to show the BJP is really a troubled house,” the leader said it quite angrily.
Sinha raised the banner of revolt just before Rajnath Singh addressed a press conference to show a united face of the BJP. During the press conference observers did not miss an equally latent warning of disciplinary actions against those who go to the media to air their differences within the party.
Speaking over telephone from New Delhi a senior BJP MP who is close to Rajnath Singh termed the resignation as a pressure tactics to put Rajnath Singh in the tight spot.
“Leaders like Sinha who enjoys fruits of politics without really doing any ground work often resorts to such tactics. His resignation will be no help the party but he succeeded to show the BJP is really a troubled house,” the leader said it quite angrily.
Advani’s final push for prime ministership was queered by ideological and organisational dishevelment in the RSS ranks which intensified rather than ebbed even after the BJP lost the game.
While the BJP will have to spend coming years to collect the pieces of its crumbled citadels the war of words of the two camps still goes on at RSS headquarter.
Couple of days backs the RSS chief Mohan Mohan Bhagwat held two separate meetings with these two leaders and asked them to submit a detailed report of the failure of the party. Both the group shifted blame to each other for this colossal failure.
Having led the BJP to its lowest perch in the memory of the party the BJP bosses now have enough time and space to ponder for lowly as it is, this perch is also a lonely place.
“I do not know about others but I am doing what a true party worker should do in such a situation,” Sinha said.
“I do not know about others but I am doing what a true party worker should do in such a situation,” Sinha said.
