BJP sticks with Gadkari, and uneasy lies saffron alliance

MUMBAI: By re-electing a known Shiv Sena critic, Nitin Gadkari, as the state unit president for the second consecutive term, the BJP has sent a not-so-subtle message to its alliance partner: The battle has just begun.

Mr Gadkari, who replaced Gopinath Munde as state party chief after BJP’s debacle in the 2004 Assembly polls, is seen as the one who pushed the saffron alliance to the brink of divorce earlier this year when he unilaterally announced the BJP’s decision to contest the December 4 Chimur Assembly by-election, a seat held by the Sena.

The by-election was caused by Sena MLA Vijay Wadettiwar’s defection to the Congress in the company of former chief minister and Sena strongman Narayan Rane. Paying scant attention to Uddhav Thackeray’s claim that the seat belongs to the Sena and will remain with it, Mr Gadkari announced openly that the BJP would contest it.

Things didn’t end there. Much to the agony of Thackeray Jr, the state BJP chief then inducted Ramesh Gajbhe, a Sena strongman from the constituency, into the party and made him the BJP’s official candidate for the by-poll.

Infuriated, Uddhav took up the matter with BJP’s LK Advani and complained about Gadkari’s “haughtiness”. He even struck a cautionary note that it may go against the spirit of the alliance. The Sena’s mouthpiece, Samna, too didn’t spare Mr Gadkari. The appeal, however, didn’t work and Mr Advani refused to intervene in the state affairs. Mr Thackeray was then forced to concede Chimur to the BJP, which was dubbed as a tactical victory for Mr Gadkari.

Notwithstanding his position vis-à-vis the Sena alliance, the BJP anointed Mr Gadkari for another term on Friday. Though Mr Gadkari, soon after taking over the charge, proclaimed that the Sena-BJP alliance is here to stay, party insiders term it a “mere gesture”. “Mr Gadkari is a strong partyman. He won’t mind suffering initial loss if he sees long-term gains. He is firming up the BJP’s position in the alliance,” a BJP leader close to Mr Gadkari said.

The development comes at a time when both partners are about to start seat-sharing talks for the forthcoming municipal elections across the state. All major municipal bodies, including Mumbai, would shortly go to polls to elect their new representatives for another five-year term.

“Till now we played second fiddle to the Sena in the alliance. It’s time we changed the balance,” a BJP leader asserted. Given Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s frail health and a series of defeats for the Sena in the recent past, the BJP is in no mood to concede a bigger role for its alliance partner. “Mr Gadkari’s re-election has this message,” he noted, cryptically.