The Hindu, 24 January 2009
Editorial
BJP’s continuing troubles
For the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has long waited to avenge its shock defeat in the 14th general election, 2009 was to be the year of redemption and glory. Yet with just months left for the next Lok Sabha poll, the party has to contend with internal dissension, tensions with coalition partners, and unexpected challenges to the leadership of Prime Ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani. Who would have thought that Ayodhya ‘warrior’ Kalyan Singh would stage a second revolt and quit the party, further endangering the BJP’s already uncertain prospects in Uttar Pradesh? For that matter, who could have known that Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, after serving as Vice-President, would choose to return to the rough and tumble of everyday politics or that he would throw his hat in the ring for Prime Minister? Yet these are not the only headaches afflicting the BJP ahead of the crucial election.
The party’s hopes for 2009 had rested on the return to the National Democratic Alliance fold of parties with winning chances such as the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Telugu Desam Party. The bigwigs spurned the BJP, forcing it to pursue smaller parties such as the Indian National Lok Dal and the Asom Gana Parishad. Today the NDA has only six constituents, the BJP included. The truncated NDA has vastly reduced the BJP’s clout vis-À-vis its allies. As a consequence, the party is engaged in a bitter turf war with them. Whether it is Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Prakash Singh Badal in Punjab, Naveen Patnaik in Orissa, or Om Prakash Chauthala in Haryana, every State satrap seems determined to gain the upper hand in seat-sharing talks with the BJP. In U.P., Mr. Kalyan Singh’s exit has increased the importance of Ajit Singh who can be expected to drive a hard bargain should he decide to join the NDA. For the BJP, the setback comes just when it seemed finally to have ended the infighting that hobbled it for the better part of its stint in the opposition. The clash among the BJP’s second generation leaders aside, there was also the ideological fight between Mr. Advani and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. With the Sangh’s grudging green signal to Mr. Advani, the leadership issue appeared to have been settled once and for all. Mr. Shekhawat has reopened what the BJP claimed was a closed chapter. With his limited backing in the party as a whole, the former Vice-President is obviously fighting a losing battle. It is inconceivable that he can take on Mr. Advani . What Mr. Shekhawat has done is to damage the credibility of the party and its Prime Minister-in-waiting on the eve of the 15th general election.
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