PARITOSH KIMOTHI/Dehradun
Recent developments involving Bharatiya Janata Party leaders days after the party’s State core committee meeting have raised questions at the situation in the BJP. Though some observers opine that coordination between the State and central leadership of the party appears to have been affected with some of its leaders and workers blatantly displaying the arrogance of power, the party’s State leadership has stressed that everything is okay and that the coordination and discipline remain unaffected.
Former BJP national president and Union minister JP Nadda had chaired the party’s State core committee meeting in Dehradun on February 14. He had stressed on the need for improving coordination between the government and the party organisation while also emphasising on discipline and coordinated efforts for the coming Assembly elections. A few days later, the party’s Raipur MLA Umesh Sharma ‘Kau’ landed in a controversy when his supporters allegedly assaulted the Primary Education director in his presence. The protest by employee unions was suspended after the MLA tendered a public apology. More recently, the party’s former Khanpur MLA Pranav Singh ‘Champion’ became involved in a social media spat with the current MLA Umesh Kumar with the duo levelling allegations and counter allegations on social media.
Veteran journalist Jai Singh Rawat opined that the coordination between the BJP’s State and central leadership has been affected after its State in-charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam was sidelined when his name cropped up in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. “Amit Shah or Nadda cannot repeatedly visit Uttarakhand to handle party matters which Gautam was handling. Even the party’s State general secretary Ajaey Kumar appears to be keeping a low profile these days. The ruling party is generally defensive but here it appears aggressive. Its leaders and workers are exhibiting the arrogance of power. There is the narrative of infighting in the Congress but even then the Congress has already formed its election committee. Apart from this, there are many issues going against the BJP in addition to the anti-incumbency factor,” he said.
However, the BJP State president Mahendra Bhatt said that there are no such issues in the party. He said that some issues are “immediate” like that of the Raipur MLA and that has already been resolved. “Our leaders and workers know that we all have to work together with discipline. There are no issues related to coordination or discipline in the party,” he said. On being asked about the reason for his recent visit to Singh, Bhatt said that he had made the visit as the former MLA’s wife Devyani Singh is a party leader and she was unwell.
