Bhopal: It seems all is not well in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in Madhya Pradesh which goes to polls for general Assembly elections at the end of this year.
The leaders of the BJP in the state are locked in wrangling before the election. On the one hand, senior leaders are holding meetings to quell the fire, but on the other hand, a few leaders are issuing statements against each other.
On Friday, Home Minister Narottam Mishra reportedly went to the residence of the party’s state unit president VD Sharma to discuss a few issues with him. According to sources, both the leaders held a closed-door meeting over the change of state president for half an hour. Mishra seems to be siding with Sharma in the present situation, and both of them reached the BJP office after the meeting.
Similarly, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also reached the party office and spoke to national co-organisational general secretary Shivprakash, state party in-charge Muralidhar Rao, state party president VD Sharma and Home Minister Narottam Mishra.
Mishra visited the residence of former president of the state party unit Prabhat Jha late in the evening, and both of them discussed the current situation. All of them focused only on one point: how to stop the party leaders from issuing controversial statements. The party leadership may take stringent action against those issuing such statements.
Meanwhile, national co-organisational general secretary of the BJP Shivprakash and its state in-charge Muralidhar Rao are unable to handle the politics of Madhya Pradesh.
The state election is five months away from now, but the party leaders are busy fighting with each other. Both Shivprakash and Rao look helpless.
Besides Shivprakash and Rao, regional organisational general secretary Ajay Jamwal has failed to quell the flame of anger among the party leaders. These leaders have been holding meetings with state party men for the past two years and giving suggestions to the government and the organisation. Despite this, they seem to have failed to control the party.
Since these leaders have failed to handle the situation, there are plans to form an election coordination committee. Influential leaders of the state and their central counterparts will be included in the committee, so that a clear picture about the party’s strategy may emerge before the election.
Former minister Deepak Joshi quit the party. Several other leaders are in touch with the Congress. Many leaders are issuing controversial statements against one another, which indicate these leaders have no control over the party.
It may be pointed out here that late Arun Jaitely, Anant Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and other leaders were election in-charges in the state. Those leaders had control over the state party unit. Those leaders neither held as many meetings as the trio is holding these days nor had they pulled up party men. Despite this, they had control over the party.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament from Guna, KP Yadav, got a dressing-down from national co-organisational general secretary Shivprakash for making a statement against Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Shivprakash took Yadav with him in his car from the party office. According to sources, Yadav has been told to keep away from making any statement.
There seems to be no end in sight in the internal fighting among BJP leaders in Sagar. Husband of Sagar Mayor, Sushil Tiwari, posted a message on social media from his mobile phone about party’s state president VD Sharma on Friday. Sharma issued a notice to Tiwari over the message. In his reply, Tiwari said he did not carry the mobile phone from which the message was posted. It happened by mistake, Tiwari said, adding that he is a soldier of the BJP.
Meanwhile, there were canards on Friday that the Union Minister of State Prahlad Patel was appointed president of the BJP’s state unit. The social media was abuzz with the news of Patel being appointed BJP’s state president. Without confirming the news, many BJP leaders and office-bearers congratulated Patel.
A BJP legislator from Telangana Raja Singh congratulated Patel through social media. Many party workers followed their leaders. There were many others who congratulated Patel over phone, but he said that there was no such decision.
The BJP leaders, however, did not contest the news. Although Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan reached the party office, he did not say anything about it. President of the BJP’s state unit VD Sharma said he had no knowledge about the news. Rumours about Patel being appointed BJP’s state unit president started trickling in after a dinner at Chouhan’s house on Wednesday night.
While the Union minister of state Prahlad Patel said there was no truth in what was spread through social media. He further said he was unaware of the reasons for spreading such canards and he refuted it.
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