Anita Katyal | It’s Suvendu, not Yogi, in firing line; Sukhu-BJP 'deal' cost Congress HP?

After the Bharatiya Janata Party’s below par performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, its leadership will have to contend with fireworks in several state units, especially Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The charge by a section of BJP that the party fared poorly in Uttar Pradesh due to chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s “indifference” is being openly questioned by his supporters. Speaking in his defence, they maintain that it is unfair to blame Yogi for the Uttar Pradesh result as his advice on ticket distribution was ignored by the Central leadership and that it was the poor choice of candidates which let the party down. Similarly, they said, the growing perception that Yogi would be replaced after the election did not go down well with the voters who, they said, had emerged as a leader in his own right. This was particularly so as the BJP leadership did not issue any denial when Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal publicly declared that Yogi would be dropped in the coming months. Then there is a churn in Rajasthan as questions are being raised about the slide in BJP’s numbers months after it registered a respectable victory in the Assembly polls. And in West Bengal, knives are out for Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari who is being blamed by local BJP leaders for the party’s slide in the state where it was hoping to improve upon its tally of 18 seats. BJP old-timers are especially furious with Mr Adhikari for deliberately shifting former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh from his old constituency which resulted in his defeat. It is believed word has already been sent to BJP president J.P. Nadda that Mr Adhikari should be replaced as Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly.

Soon after the declaration of the Lok Sabha election results, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the BJP leadership to relieve him of his ministerial duties in view of the party’s unexpected poor seat count in the state. While Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut dismissed it as a mere political gimmick, BJP insiders said Mr Fadnavis’s request was possibly a face saver as there are reports that the Maharashtra leader may be moved to Delhi. According to the political grapevine, plans are afoot to accommodate Mr Fadnavis in the Rajya Sabha in place of Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendent of Shivaji, who won the Satara Lok Sabha seat for the BJP for the first time in these elections. This victory is special for the BJP as Satara has always been loyal to Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar. It is said the BJP wants to move Mr Fadnavis out of Maharashtra as it is not happy with his performance and would instead like to promote Mr Bhosale in the state.

The mood at the first meeting of the INDIA bloc members was predictably jubilant but most leaders were extra-cautious in their interaction with National Conference leader Omar Abdullah who lost his Baramulla seat and Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal who has not come to terms with his party’s low tally in Bihar. All senior leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav made it a point to console Omar Abdullah who put up a brave face, saying “you win some, you lose some”. He, however, acknowledged that there was overwhelming public sympathy for the winning candidate, Engineer Rashid. Similarly, senior leaders also tried to pep up Tejashwi Yadav, telling him that he should not lose heart while assuring him that he would do better in next year’s Bihar Assembly polls.

Kishori Lal Sharma, the low-key Congress worker who was better known as a loyalist of the Gandhi family till recently, is the party’s new hero. Hailed as a giant killer after he wrested the Amethi Lok Sabha seat from Union minister Smriti Irani in the recently-concluded general election, Mr Sharma has grabbed headlines and been interviewed by several television news channels. He was accorded a special welcome at the Congress Party headquarters — drums, flower petals and the works. The buzz in the party is that Mr Sharma may be given major responsibilities either in Uttar Pradesh or in the Central party organisation which is expected to see a reshuffle once the euphoria over the election results abates.

The national Capital has always dined out on political conspiracies. The latest buzz is that Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had an informal understanding with the BJP on sharing of the electoral spoils. According to the political grapevine, the agreement was that the Congress aid in the victory of BJP Lok Sabha candidates while the saffron party would do its best to ensure the victory of Congress nominees in the by-elections. As it happens, the Congress lost all the four Lok Sabha seats but managed to win four of the six by-elections, necessitated after a rebellion in its ranks. With the addition of these MLAs, Mr Sukhu has managed to save his government and sidelined his biggest in-house critic, Vikramaditya Singh, who lost to Kangana Ranaut in Mandi.