The Bharatiya Janata Party faces a peculiar predicament in the Vidhan Sabha. There being no leader of its legislature Party, every member is trying to throw his or her weight in the House to gain some brownie points, very often leading to chaotic situation in the House.
After the BJP members created din in the Assembly continuously for four days, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohd Azam Khan urged Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey to nominate someone as leader of the BJP legislature Party otherwise the chaos would continue. Though he said this in a lighter vein, his comment hit the nail on its head.
After Hukum Singh’s resignation from Vidhan Sabha following his election to lok Sabha, the post of BJP legislature Party leader is lying vacant. In the legislative Council also the party faced the same predicament when its legislature Party leader there, Nepal Singh, was elected to the lok Sabha from Rampur. However, the party leadership appointed Hridaya Narain Dixit as leader of the legislature Party in the Council and filled the void.
But the appoint of legislature Party leader in the Vidhan Sabha is not that easy for the party. Satish Mahana, who is deputy leader of the legislature Party, is its de facto leader. Dr Radha Mohan Das Agarwal is the chief whip while party’s state president laxmikant Bajpai is also a member of the Assembly. Then there is seven-time winner Shyamdeo Rai Chaudhary and five-time winner Suresh Khanna.
“The BJP legislature Party is a bit heavy at the top therefore all these senior leaders try to make their presence felt, ignoring the junior members of the House,” a party legislator confided to ‘The Pioneer’, and added: “This is creating confusion. Sometimes we do not know whom to listen.” The legislators believe that all these senior leaders deprive the juniors of the opportunity to raise their points.
“The problem can be solved if we have a leader (of legislature Party). Then we will know whom to speak to at the time of confusion. At this point everyone seems to be the leader,” the legislator said.
Other parties take this situation with a pinch of salt. “It is an internal matter of the BJP and we should not say anything. But it is not a good practice,” said Congress legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur.