After poll drubbing, dissent rocks BJP

The proverbial knives are out in the Bharatiya Janata Party. It was an article by party ideologue and close L K Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni to a magazine that set the cat among pigeons in the party, which is undergoing the worst crisis in many years.

What followed was an outburst. Some resigned, some went public with their complaints. The Lotus, once blooming, is wilting in the Indian summer after the polls.

Here we take a look at the key players that raised a banner of revolt in the saffron party.

Considered a close aide of LK Advani, Sudheendra Kulkarani's article rattled both Advani and leaders alike. The party, including L K Advani, was quick to distance himself from the anti-RSS comments made by Kulkarni.   

Replying, senior leader Sushma Swaraj said the views were that of an independent writer and he had not written it after discussing this with Advani.

Among other things, this is what Kulkarni wrote:

"The BJP-PSS relationship will have to be recast. The RSS should not micro-manage the affairs of the party. It must, especially, not make any public comments on the top leaders of the party. The RSS must realise that the people of India do not like to see their leaders remote controlled by an external entity. India needs the RSS, no doubt about it. However, the RSS must focus on giving strategic guidance to the Hindu society and on creating men and women of vision and character to take up leadership positions at different levels and in diverse areas of nation-building."

More than the Sudheendra Kulkarni article, it was Yashwant Sinha's resignation that hurt the party most. He has suggested that "all office-bearers of the party and the parliamentary party resign" and the posts be filled "through a process of election."

The BJP leader alleged, in his resignation letter, that "some people were determined to ensure that the principle of accountability does not prevail so that their own little perch is not disturbed."

Sinha sent the five-page letter to party president Rajnath Singh and copies to members of the BJP's core committee. The letter leaked to the media on Saturday afternoon minutes before Singh was to address the press.

Without naming names, Sinha attacked the elevation of Arun Jaitley in disregard of the fact that the just-named Leader of Opposition was in charge of the party's LS campaign. Sinha also obliquely attacked Jaitley's factional rival, Rajnath Singh for trying to sweep defeat under the carpet.

It was Jaswant Singh that raised the banner of revolt -- rather quietly -- against Advani and Arun Jaitley in a meeting of the party's core committee last week.

The Darjeeling MP circulated a one-page note at the meeting in which he called for a parity between "inam" (reward) and "parinaam" (result).

It was clear that Jaswant was not happy with the appointment of Advani and Jaitley as Opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, passing up veterans like himself and Joshi, who won from Varanasi.

Arun Jaitley, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, has decided to quit as general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Before leaving for London to watch the T20 World Cup, Jaitley had written to Rajnath Singh, informing him that the resignation was to keep alive the tradition of one person-one post.

Though it is a technical resignation, it assumes significance as Jaitley also intends to skip the BJP's national executive committee meeting to be held in New Delhi from June 20.

Sushma Swaraj is currently the Deputy Leader of  Opposition. Perhaps, the decision to move Sushma up in the ladder angered many leaders in the party.

"The situation in the party is volcanic. When there is a volcano, even a small spark can flare it further," Sushma Swaraj told the media in Bhopal last week while on her way to her Parliamentary constituency Vidisha. She refused to say anything on the subject, insisting that it'd not be prudent on her part to hold forth on an issue which has exposed the factional faultlines within the party.

Along with Arun Jaitley, Swaraj has been at the receiving end of a vicious blame game in the saffron party.