The embers of the factional feuds still smouldering in the State BJP following the recent violence involving the supporters of the two State Cabinet Ministers — Satpal Maharaj and Madan Kaushik- that left the Haridwar mayor Manoj Garg injured, the BJP high command is now engaged in humouring Maharaj, say the State BJP insiders. They further say that the party top brass based in Delhi could hardly risk annoying the spiritual-turned-political leader who enjoys vast following in some of the states which are now heading towards Assembly elections. Besides, they also cite the fact that Maharaj had quit Congress and switched over to BJP in the run-up to the 2014 lok Sabha election at the instance of the BJP national president Amit Shah.
The poll-bound states where Maharaj enjoys a huge following among the mass of the people as a towering spiritual Guru are Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh where the Assembly elections are due in early 2018. Besides, he enjoys the same amount of influence too in Bihar where BJP has just formed a coalition Government with the Janata Dal (United) faction led by the chief minister Nitish Kumar. BJP insiders say that in MP and Rajasthan, the party is facing a tough challenge to retain power, given the possibility of a strong anti-incumbency factor working against it.
Meanwhile, the unsavoury incident has cast a negative shadow over the ruling party’s reputation of being an ideologically well-knit one under the iron- fisted control of the central leadership, say the state BJP watchers. The opposition Congress- wandering in the wilderness since the poll snub- was quick enough to grab the opportunity to recharge itself and to fire salvos at the ruling party. They particularly cited the incident of the civic body employees dumping the city’s garbage at the doorstep of the ashram run by Maharaj to avenge the attack on the mayor. They tore into the state BJP leaders, saying that they have made a cruel mockery of the Prime Minister’s much-vaunted cleanliness campaign.
The party high command had not been pleased either with what had happened that day. They promptly had asked the State BJP president Ajay Bhatt to engage himself in dousing the fire. Acting on the diktat, Bhatt had tried to bring the apparently warring two Cabinet Ministers on one platform to show that the incident had erupted out of momentary impulse. Maharaj is learnt to have initially refused to fall in line, prompting the national party president Amit Shah to call him up and talk to him for close to 15 minutes to mollycoddle him to stop further damage being done to the ruling party’s reputation. This is supposed to have thawed the ice a bit, at least for the time being. However, the question remains-given the deep-seated animosity prevailing in the rival camps, how long the truce would workIJ
The BJP insiders say that while Kaushik’s importance in the ministry can hardly be overstated Maharaj enjoys a pan India aura which, if used properly, can stand the party in good stead in the ensuing round of the elections in the states where the party is hardly in the comfort zone. They also say that some disciplinary action against the mayor Manoj Garg is in the offing. “The extent of injuries of the mayor sustained during the attack allegedly by the Maharaj loyalists being blown out of proportions by the mayor’s camp followers further angered the Maharaj followers who were convinced that it was part of a conspiracy to lower the stock of their leader in the party roost. The party high command was not pleased too over the injuries being thus dramatised. The mayor’s camp is under stress as its mentor Madan Kaushik does not enjoy the same proximity to the party president Amit Shah as Maharaj enjoys,” said a state BJP watcher.