BJP to checkmate Pawar on wheat deal

MUMBAI: Maharashtra BJP would soon turn its campaign on the wheat import controversy into a public agitation targeting Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, state BJP functionaries told ET. The party is planning to put the issue on agenda for its state executive meet beginning October 21 in Aurangabad. Some central BJP functionaries would also attend the meeting, sources said.

“We will chalk out a strategy for a public stir on the issue. So far, we have stayed focused on providing documentary evidence to establish that wrongdoing has been committed in wheat imports. The time is now ripe for taking the campaign to the people, who are the ultimate sufferers,” said state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari. The state executive would also review preparations for a possible mid-term general election, sources said.

“We have got Mr Pawar on the back foot. The issue directly affects the common man since the imported wheat has been pumped into the public distribution system. It makes sense to launch an agitation in Mr Pawar’s home state, where the Congress-NCP government itself has admitted that rotten wheat has been sold to people,” said another BJP leader.

The BJP functionary recalled the party’s spirited public mobilisation campaign in 1995 against Mr Pawar, who was then the state chief minister, on the issue of criminalisation of politics. “That campaign spearheaded by Gopinath Munde not only did an irreparable damage to Mr Pawar’s image, but also played a major role in bringing the Sena-BJP to power in the state.

The campaign also launched Mr Munde as a mass leader,” recalled a BJP leader. The party believes the wheat import controversy has an added political advantage — it involves public interest and cost to the public exchequer. The public agitation on wheat controversy would be led by Mr Munde and state BJP president Nitin Gadkari.

“Mr Pawar has always projected himself as a farmers’ leader, someone who can speak authoritatively on agriculture. The BJP will never forget how Mr Pawar ridiculed Atalji and Advaniji as novices on farm issues during the NDA rule. Now the UPA government and the country is facing the consequences of Mr Pawar’s wrongdoing. How did he get it all wrong if he knows agriculture so well,” asked a senior BJP leader.

The BJP is jubilant that even the Congress has started protesting against the wheat imports. The party reckons that the Congress in Maharashtra may not find it easy to rally behind the NCP on this issue.

“If the Congress does not distance itself from the controversy, it will be playing into the hands of Mr Pawar, who is not projecting the import decision as one taken by the empowered group of ministers,” said a Congress leader who has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi, requesting that the party steer clear of the issue.