The BJP continued to face embarrassment on Sunday, this time over the induction of Pramod Muthalik, founder of the notorious Sri Ram Sene. His induction by the Karnataka unit of the BJP Sunday had to be cancelled within hours by its central leadership after it faced an intense backlash. The Opposition of course attacked the BJP over inducting Mr Muthalik — who had led the attack on some women at a Mangalore pub in 2009 — but even its own senior leader Manohar Parrikar, Goa CM, asked the BJP leadership to reconsider the move.
Also, there was further trouble for L.K.Advani loyalists, with veteran leader Jaswant Singh threatening Sunday that he would contest as an Independent from Barmer in Rajasthan, having been denied a ticket by his party. Yet another Advani acolyte, Harin Pathak, also made his displeasure known over being denied renomination from Ahmedabad (East), a Lok Sabha seat that he has represented seven times.
Mr Jaswant Singh, overlooked by the party leadership over his claim to a ticket from Barmer, said on Sunday he would file his nomination on Monday. This led to Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley taking a potshot at him, saying he (Mr Singh) should accept the party’s “no” with a smile after he had been showered with privileges and positions by the party, and that his loyalty “was on test”.
The fault lines in the BJP on the Jaswant Singh issue had been exposed on Saturday when Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj had said she was “pained” by the party’s decision to not field Mr Singh from Barmer.
Mr Jaswant Singh said he wasn’t resigning form the party yet and that he would consult party colleagues before taking such a step, Mr Singh left open the possibility of his being expelled by the party. He also said there was need to differentiate between the “real BJP” and the “fake BJP”.
At a function at Hubli, Karnataka, on Sunday morning, Pramod Muthalik, who faces 45 cases including those on promoting enmity between two communities, was welcomed into the BJP fold in the presence of Karnataka state chief Prahalad Joshi, former CM Jagadish Shettar and former deputy CM K.S. Eshwarappa. But soon after the Congress and other parties started attacking the BJP on the issue and some rumblings began internally, party chief Rajnath Singh directed Mr Joshi to rescind the move.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said in New Delhi that the central leadership was not consulted on the matter and had disapproved of it. “It had instructed the state party to reject the membership of Muthalik.” Mr Joshi too confirmed later that the decision to induct Mr Muthalik was taken at the state level.
Mr Muthalik, 51, had shot into the limelight after activists of his right-wing Sri Ram Sene barged into the pub in Mangalore in 2009 and assaulted youngsters, both women and men, and had accused them of behaving in an “obscene manner”. He had arrested after the incident.
Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, who was in Nagpur to campaign for the BJP on Sunday, said he had told the leadership that “he should not be (taken into the BJP) and his membership should be quashed”.
In Gujarat, seven-time Ahmedabad (East) MP Harin Pathak, an Advani loyalist, raised the banner of revolt after being denied renomination. “The activities that have taken place in the party in the last three months have hurt party workers. The party has been inducting the Congress’ third grade turncoats, who have noisily criticised the party (BJP) earlier and they are even being felicitated here,” Mr Pathak said. He has been replaced by actor Paresh Rawal, who had extensively campaigned for Narendra Modi in the last Assembly elections.
Though the BJP claimed there were no differences over ticket distribution, Mr Jaitley, in an apparent criticism of Mr Jaswant Singh’s move to contest as an Independent, said: “Membership of a political party is a privilege. It is also an act of self-oppression where personal views and ambitions are subjected to collective wisdom of the party. At times, the party may flood leaders with privileges and positions. On other occasions, the leader may have to take ‘no’ as an answer.” Writing in his blog, Mr Jaitley said a politician or leader denied a ticket must accept the decision with a “smile”.
In a dig at the BJP over its ticket distribution problems, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said there was more democracy in “family-run” parties like his National Conference than in “parties with a difference”. Apparently referring to the discord in the BJP over denial of a ticket to Mr Singh and
some other controversies, Mr Abdullah tweeted: “Earlier there was Advani-Vajpayee duo, possibly even with (Murli Manohar) Joshi but now it’s just the NaMo (Narendra Modi) monopoly.”