Factionalism continues to bog down the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the fact that Assembly elections are barely a year away matters little to state leaders who are busy settling their own issues instead of reviving the party.
The factional wars between the state leaders have become so pronounced that the cadres have begun recoiling into their shells.
“What is the point of working in a party where leaders need to learn a few lessons themselves?” asked a party worker.
Intra-party bickering amo-ng the leadership became visible recently when senior BJP MLA Hukum Singh sat on a fast-unto-death in the state Assembly to protest against an amendment in the urban local bodies’ election procedure. Within hours, he was forced to call off his fast by his senior colleagues — a fact that left the veteran leader deeply upset.
More recently, during the party’s state convention in Moradabad, BJP MP Vinay Katiyar raised the issue of backward and dalits being given a raw deal in the party and the reference was apparently to the appointment of Kalraj Misra as head of the party’s election committee. Though he later denied having questioned Mr Misra’s appointment, the animosity between the two leaders was laid bare in public.
Other backward leaders, including Om Prakash Singh, are also said to be upset at the dominance of upper caste leaders in the party. “It is a strange situation. If you visit Rajnath Singh, then Surya Pratap Shahi (UP BJP president) begins to sulk. If you talk to Dr M.M. Joshi, the Rajnath camp begins to frown at you. There are over a dozen parties within the UP BJP and when other parties will fight against Mayawati, we will fight among ourselves,” said a former minister.
Party workers are now apprehensive that instead of winnability, it will be one-upmanship that will dominate ticket distribution in the BJP this time.
“As things stand, tickets will be decided on ‘my man, your man’ syndrome and anyone who is not someone’s ‘man’ will get left out. Each leader is fiercely guarding his interests even if it means sacrificing the party’s interests. In such a situation, it is unlikely that deserving candidates will get tickets for the Assembly polls,” said a legislator.