Mahajan’s party misses his skills

MUMBAI: With infighting coming out in the open and the current leadership failing to quell the rebellion, the BJP surely is missing the might of Pramod Mahajan. The forthcoming elections to 10 large municipal bodies and zilla parishad have sparked off dissidence in the BJP. The party with a difference ��� as it likes to call itself ��� is finding it difficult to douse the fire.

The problem this time appears more serious as it���s not the usual ���election-time rebellion��� which normally is staged by those who have been denied the tickets.

Such is the rage this time that a BJP office in Pune was ransacked by party workers on Tuesday night causing ���selective��� damage. The attackers destroyed stationery and posters of state unit president Nitin Gadkari.

Interestingly, those of Gopinath Munde were spared. According to a BJP insider, the incident indicates a ���new dangerous trend��� in the party. ���Whatever differences the party leadership had were always contained within the walls of the office. They were never allowed to spill on the roads. This is a new trend,��� a senior BJP leader said.

He blamed Nitin Gadkari and Gopinath Munde for failing to bury the hatchet ahead of the elections. ���They should have shown some restrain while dealing with a sensitive issue of ticket distribution,��� he said.

More than that, others think the absence of a person like Pramod Mahajan is making the situation worse. ���We have no one of his stature, who is equally close to all groups and factions,��� another Mumbai-based BJP leader admitted. ���Pramodji knew virtually everyone in the party. He had his own style of handling workers. And no section in the party ever claimed to be closer to Mahajan than the other,��� he said.

He pointed out a revolt by former Mumbai deputy mayor and veteran Arun Dev against the party leadership. ���Things would not have gone so awry for the party if Pramodji were around,��� he said. Mr Dev has filed a nomination as an independent when the party denied him a ticket in favour of Ajit Satam, former personal secretary to Mr Munde.

���I���m not against Mr Satam being fielded by the party. My objection is to the way they sidelined me and announced his candidature. In the good old days, the party used to interact with aspirants and people like me who has been here for many years,��� Mr Dev said later.

Many in the party think there is no redressal system left within the organisation thanks to with Mr Mahajan���s untimely exit. ���You have to either be a Gadkari supporter or from the Munde camp. But a majority of the party workers are neither here nor there. There is no one who can rise above these differences and address the issue,��� he rued.