With factional bickering intensifying in the State BJP over who would lead the party at the hustings as Chief Ministerial face, the party’s top brass is most likely to play it safe.
Despite pressure being put by some prominent saffron leaders on the Central leadership to name the Chief Ministerial face to take on the undimmed charisma of the terrible Chief Minister Harish Rawat, the party’s national secretary Vijay Vargees said that the party would instead pin on the growing popularity of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win the election.
Talking to the media, Vargees, now in Uttarakhand on a three day tour, said that the party is yet to decide any face. He cited instances of at least three States-Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat-returning BJP in successive elections. “We hope the party would win the election here hands down too, given the deep roots it enjoys in the electorate,” he said.
However, the BJP insiders say that the analogy was unjustified, given the fact that in all the three States the Central BJP leader cited had strong faces to steer the party to successive victories. “We are baffled over how Vargees has resorted to such logic which cannot stand a rational scrutiny. It seems that the party’s top brass is at its wits’ end with the squabbling factions determined not to yield an inch to the rivals,” said a BJP insider.
However, Vargees himself hinted that the party brass falling upon a single face is proving extremely difficult, given the fact that nearly half a dozen factions are at daggers drawn. Putting up a brave face, he said that his party abiding by the principle of internal democracy, they could hardly throttle the myriad voices seemingly clashing with one another. “It is wrong to cry foul of what is happening in the state BJP. It is a manifestation of the internal democracy we are proud of,” he said
Things are indeed grim for the saffron camp in the run-up to the election, due in two-three months. Two State satraps-both former CMs- Garhwal MP Maj Gen Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri and Udham Singh Nagar MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari- are in a sulk mode. They made their strong displeasure clear in course of the national executive meeting in Roorkee a few weeks ago. Koshyari even went to the extent of taking a caustic dig, clothed in humour, at trio-State BJP president Ajay Bhatt, organisational in-charge Shiv Prakash and party general secretary Sanjay Gupta- saying that they had become a trident, calling the shots, keeping others who matter at bay. Khanduri proved no less hostile as he refused to receive memento the party proposed to give him to felicitate the veteran along with others.
Taking the fluid situation to his advantage, Haridwar MP and former CM Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has plunged into the scene, staking his claim for the CM chair. He has had many hoardings put up through his followers across Haridwar parliamentary constituency to bolster his chance of becoming the CM face in the electoral battle ahead.