At a time when it should ideally have been gunning for the UPA government’s head for its failures, the saffron leadership finds itself busy dousing in-house fires. With just over a year left for the big elections, the BJP leadership looks surprisingly bent on giving the Congress another term on a platter.
The infighting within the country’s principal opposition party is certainly not a revelation. Neither is the fact that the BJP has failed to arrive at a consensus over its prime ministerial candidate. These are issues that could have been easily brushed under the carpet for a later day; had the timing not been so crucial for the party’s ambitions of coming to power, and if only the BJP had acted responsibly as the Opposition. However, a chain of events has exposed the absence of decisive leadership in BJP and the turmoil that it faces internally. As the country’s principal Opposition party, it was the BJP’s responsibility to expose the chinks in the Congress-led UPA government’s armour. However, unable to handle its own problems, that job was rather easily ceded to Arvind Kejriwal and his team. As Kejriwal and Co. went on an attacking spree against the who’s who of the Congress’ leadership, the BJP was left with no option but to be satisfied with merely reacting to the allegations levelled by India Against Corruption. The BJP’s inability to tend to its weaknesses has not only given the Congress a breather; it has also helped Kejriwal hijack the issues that were predominantly in the Opposition’s kitty earlier. Be it price rise, corruption or black money, Kejriwal has used these issues to position himself as perhaps the BJP’s biggest rival. What is worse is that the lack of decisive action against allegations of corruption made on both leading national parties has lent more credence to Kejriwal’s attempts to paint both the Congress and the BJP with the same taint brush.
The BJP’s reactions to the claims and the allegations made by Kejriwal have also put on display the conundrum that party strategists are reeling under. Soon after Kejriwal attacked BJP president Nitin Gadkari for receiving 100 acres of agricultural land in Maharashtra in what appeared to be a quid-pro-quo deal with the Congress-NCP government in the state, the party trashed the allegation as false and baseless; and borne out of Kejriwal’s attempts to hog prime time limelight. “A lot of hype was created about the press conference; as if some big bomb is being exploded... Kejriwal tried his best to dig out some scam but could not find anything,’’ maintained Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
Contrary to the party’s understanding of what the press conference achieved, Gadkari now finds himself in the middle of a major controversy surrounding his dubious business dealings. Moreover, his refusal to step down from his post has rendered himself, and the BJP, extremely vulnerable to charges of being soft on corruption. This, until recently, was the BJP’s persistent agenda against the Congress!
The infighting within the country’s principal opposition party is certainly not a revelation. Neither is the fact that the BJP has failed to arrive at a consensus over its prime ministerial candidate. These are issues that could have been easily brushed under the carpet for a later day; had the timing not been so crucial for the party’s ambitions of coming to power, and if only the BJP had acted responsibly as the Opposition. However, a chain of events has exposed the absence of decisive leadership in BJP and the turmoil that it faces internally. As the country’s principal Opposition party, it was the BJP’s responsibility to expose the chinks in the Congress-led UPA government’s armour. However, unable to handle its own problems, that job was rather easily ceded to Arvind Kejriwal and his team. As Kejriwal and Co. went on an attacking spree against the who’s who of the Congress’ leadership, the BJP was left with no option but to be satisfied with merely reacting to the allegations levelled by India Against Corruption. The BJP’s inability to tend to its weaknesses has not only given the Congress a breather; it has also helped Kejriwal hijack the issues that were predominantly in the Opposition’s kitty earlier. Be it price rise, corruption or black money, Kejriwal has used these issues to position himself as perhaps the BJP’s biggest rival. What is worse is that the lack of decisive action against allegations of corruption made on both leading national parties has lent more credence to Kejriwal’s attempts to paint both the Congress and the BJP with the same taint brush.
The BJP’s reactions to the claims and the allegations made by Kejriwal have also put on display the conundrum that party strategists are reeling under. Soon after Kejriwal attacked BJP president Nitin Gadkari for receiving 100 acres of agricultural land in Maharashtra in what appeared to be a quid-pro-quo deal with the Congress-NCP government in the state, the party trashed the allegation as false and baseless; and borne out of Kejriwal’s attempts to hog prime time limelight. “A lot of hype was created about the press conference; as if some big bomb is being exploded... Kejriwal tried his best to dig out some scam but could not find anything,’’ maintained Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.
Contrary to the party’s understanding of what the press conference achieved, Gadkari now finds himself in the middle of a major controversy surrounding his dubious business dealings. Moreover, his refusal to step down from his post has rendered himself, and the BJP, extremely vulnerable to charges of being soft on corruption. This, until recently, was the BJP’s persistent agenda against the Congress!
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