Gadkari to arrive Jharkhand
Vijay Deo Jha
Ranchi

BJP national President Nitin Gadkari is not a lame-duck yet he decided to visit Jharkhand a little lamed by political reverses he suffered past year in Jharkhand and, on the evidence of the run-up, could well deliver a duck if you have prepared some pointed posers to pinch him.
Gadkari had escaped attending oath taking ceremony of the last two governments in Jharkhand — Shibu Soren and Arjun Munda. Though, his prior engagements were sited as the reason — politically reasons were different. Gadkari had lost too many things in Jharkhand. He will try to regain some of these.
In the Soren led government his party was in second fiddle role. In no time the trust deficit between the alliance partners, the BJP and the JMM became so wide that the government collapsed within five months. Though, the estranged political partners nudged into negotiation bid soon after, but then, it had left bad taste in the mouth of Gadkari. Gadkari had the first such encounter with Jharkhand where politics is always pregnant with queer ploy and possibilities even beyond shrewd sense.
Probably he thought to collect burnished trophy of credit to form government in Jharkhand with the JMM. The obvious aim was to keep the Congress at way to run the government in Jharkhand through proxy. Certainly his coterie must not have briefed him correctly about Jharkhand and the JMM. The alliance crumbled in no time and the government collapsed with five months.
The later episode of government formation with the JMM cost Gadkari and his party dearly. The government was formed but at the cost of the image of the party and his own. Within the party and outside his leadership was questioned and the BJP as power hungry. But then, Jharkhand taught him some critical lessons in politics and political judgment that he could not have learnt in his past stint in politics.
So Gadkari will be on two-day visit in Jharkhand from Saturday. The state capital has turned into the town of arch and hording to welcome him. Gadkari will attend the meeting of party workers who will turn not less than 50000 in number to attend it. The BJP leaders have attached so much importance to his maiden visit to Jharkhand.
“Gadkari had taken the government formation exercise as challenge. It was his initiative,” a senior party leader said. “This government bears his impression. Road and electricity are his pet subjects which are with the BJP,” he said. But the leader conceded that the state government has yet to graduate beyond promises and plans to offer anything tactile over infrastructural development.
So is the case with the party here in Jharkhand that requires real organisational overhaul at the grass root level. The organisational elections have been a slow pace affair from the last many months. None in the party is ready to give any deadline by the time when the elections will be completed. Factionalism in the BJP is still on boil one that had started last year between Munda and the then state party president Raghuwar Das.
Source in the BJP said that importance of the visit of Gadkari actually lies in future. “The assembly elections of the five states may change the scenario of the national politics. There could be mid term election, hence, BJP is looking for alliance partners in different states. JMM could be well on the card of the party,” source said.
Gadkari is sure to face questions over the credibility of such alliance. When time will come to criticize the central government over price hike Gadkari will have to face a tough poser. The state government has increased the price of petroleum and diesel.