BJP is concerned about adverse messaging, especially as it heads into poll season, despite the internal fighting emerging from a small state such as Goa.
New Delhi: The very public and vocal infighting in its Goa unit has come as a bit of a shock for the BJP, which under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and national president Amit Shah, has been accustomed to portraying a united front, with the top brass seen as completely in command.
According to party sources, who did not wish to be identified, despite this being limited to a small state such as Goa, what is causing concern to the BJP leadership is the adverse messaging, especially for a party that “takes pride in seeming cohesive and not made up of fighting units like the Congress”.
The source of trouble
The chaos in the Goa BJP unit began with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s deteriorating health condition. Last week, senior BJP leader and former Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar openly criticised the local party unit for not taking him into confidence before inducting two Congress MLAs into the BJP.
Also read: BJP’s Goa plan — reduce Parrikar’s workload, induct defecting MLAs
Making matters worse for the party, Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar Tuesday accused Parsekar of “abusing” Shah, Parrikar and him in a phone conversation. With both Tendulkar and Parsekar’s statements, the war within the Goa BJP is out in the open.
This, however, is a practice the Modi-Shah duo has constantly frowned upon and, given their level of control within the party, has made sure that no factionalism and internal fights come out in the open.
The sources say Goa, however, has turned out to be “an exception”, with “the potential of sending out an adverse message nationally about BJP’s image — entirely avoidable in the poll season”.
Infighting in other state units
While the Goa case is the most blatant and overt example of a fighting state unit, the BJP had to contend with some open disagreements before as well.
Earlier this year, Maharashtra turned out to be a case in point. Disgruntled BJP leader and former minister Eknath Khadse hit out at the Devendra Fadnavis government and talked about a ‘rat scam’ openly in the legislative assembly.
Rajasthan, which goes to polls in December and where the BJP seems to be on a weak footing, witnessed a quiet drama of sorts with the appointment of the state BJP president massively delayed, thanks to a heated war between Shah and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
In fact, the schism is so evident that Congress leader and PCC president Sachin Pilot recently took a dig at it. “It is the BJP where Shah is campaigning separately in Rajasthan and the chief minister is campaigning separately,” he said.
What, however, exposed the fault lines within the BJP the most was the Supreme Court’s ruling that diluted the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP erupted with first-time MPs such as Savitri Bai Phule, Ashok Dohrey, Chhotelal Kharwar and Yashwant Singh rebelling against the party, claiming it was not doing enough to protect their community.
Kharwar and Dohrey slammed the Yogi Adityanath government for being anti-Dalit. The Central government, however, later brought in a law which restored the original provisions of the Act.
Also read: With Manohar Parrikar indisposed, BJP concerned about ‘go Goa gone’
Murmurs of internal differences, although away from the public glare, in other state units such as Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar have also been growing louder.
The party sources, meanwhile, say the leadership is going to “sit it out in Goa and allow the matter to subside on its own”.
“But not denying it gives the opposition enough ammunition to throw the charge of a central leadership unable to keep its state units in control at the BJP”, a party leader said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.