New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday sought to quell dissent in the party by warning leaders from making their grievances public and accepting the resignation of its senior leader Yashwant Sinha. But bitter infighting in the BJP may just be beginning.
Sinha is the third BJP party leader--after Jaswant Singh and Sudheendra Kulkarni--whose criticism of the party’s strategy for the Lok Sabha elections got wide publicity in the media.
Sinha, who was the party’s vice-president and is a former foreign minister, alleged in his five-page resignation letter that the party is “shying” from fixing blame for its defeat in the elections.
“We failed to carry out a review after our defeat in the last election. I am getting a sinking feeling that once again there is a conspiracy of silence. We are shying away from pinpointing our weaknesses and fixing responsibility. We are hoping that time shall heal our wounds,” he said.
Sinha, Lok Sabha MP from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, alleged that leaders responsible for the party’s defeat had avoided blame and who “toiled” are being ignored.
“Those who were responsible for the management of the campaign have already made their views public…those of us who actually toiled in the field and took all the risk have not even been heard,” said Sinha, who claimed there is a “rat race” in the party for posts.
Sinha praised senior party leader L K Advani from offering to resign as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and believed the BJP should not have persuaded him to continue in the post.
Three party factions
Sinha makes the same points senior party leader Jaswant Singh made in his letter on Wednesday. Singh’s letter, which was circulated among senior party leaders, asked why those responsible for election strategy are being rewarded with plum posts.
Singh demanded to know why party leaders who had made the party’s election strategy are now analyzing it through newspaper articles.
Sinha and Singh’s anger seem to be directed at senior party leader Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Sudheendra Kulkarni, the party strategist, who wrote a critical article in a news magazine.
Sinha and Singh are seen as former prime minister A B Vayjpayee’s men. Their target is the Advani’s group of supporters, who are led by Sushma Swaraj and Jaitely
There is a third group, which is waiting for its moment from the sidelines. This group comprises Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi and hopes to gain power with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s support.
The split is showing in the BJP and it may grow wider as it debates why it lost the elections.
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