BJP unity in Punjab's political diversity

Amitabh Shukla / Chandigarh

The electoral fortunes of the BJP would decide who will sit on the Treasury benches of the Vidhan Sabha after the elections in Punjab on January 30. If the BJP does well, there could be a SAD-BJP government in the state but on the contrary if the party performs the way it did in the 2002 polls, it could well be the Congress firmly in saddle for next five years.

As a lot is on stake for the BJP in the Punjab polls given its ramifications at the national level, the party for the first time in the last almost four years, is projecting a united face. So much so that it remains the only party in the state which did not face any rebellion or revolt after the ticket distribution exercise until Wednesday evening when sitting MLA Jagdish Sahni changed sides.

Fearing anti-incumbency and also changed demography at the ground after delimitation of constituencies, BJP changed four of its 19 sitting MLAs. In all, the party changed 8 candidates who contested the 2002 polls. It was an expert man management and also commitment to the party which saw no rebellions, except that of Sahni, even though at one stage it seemed imminent.

There could not have been a better display of party unity when former minister Master Mohan Lal accompanied party candidate and state BJP President Ashwini Kumar to file the nomination papers from Pathankot. Mohan Lal had earlier given indications of a rebellion but fell in line the moment the ticket was announced.

It was similar for the mercurial Laxmi Kanta Chawla, for long a face of the party in the holy city of Amritsar. She has fought for social issues in the area for long and was a tireless campaigner even during the heydays of militancy. She opted out of the race but unlike other parties, endorsed the candidature of Tarun Chugh from her traditional stronghold of Amritsar central.

Jagdish Sahni, the sitting MLA from Batala remained the lone dissident who joined Congress on Wednesday evening. BJP sources, however, insist that Sahni is a lone ranger and the cadre of the party is not with him. Sahni sat on a hunger strike protesting the move to allot the seat to ally Akali Dal and at one time declared to contest as an independent.

At a time when all parties – be it the Congress or SAD are facing rebels in several constituencies, leaders are changing their political affiliation overnight and some even have changed parties three to four times in the last few years, BJP has managed to keep its cadres and leaders together ahead of the crucial election.

Party leaders in the state describe this unity to the 3-day visit of senior party leader L K Advani during the Jan Chetna rally followed by visits of party chief Nitin Gadkari to mollify the sulking leaders. In fact, only seven months ago, CBI had raided BJP legislator Raj Khurana’s house in a case of alleged corruption and it led to a reshuffle of the BJP ministers in the state, triggering heart burn in a section of leadership and lowering its image in their traditional stronghold in the cities. But the issue is now in the backburner as there is no progress in the case and BJP largely remained unscathed in the run-up to the polls and after the tickets were finalised.

In the 2007 polls, BJP won 19 seats and was crucial in helping the Akali Dal which got 49 seats to form the government. The halfway mark in Punjab is 59 in a house of 117 and SAD was far short of the number on its own.

But in 2002 polls, it was the poor performance of the BJP which helped Congress romp home. The party managed only 3 seats while SAD still had 41. So SAD has its vote bank intact with minor fluctuations here and there it is mainly the urban centric BJP which faces fluctuations if the past polls are taken into consideration.

There had been certain differences in SAD and BJP. The recent one was on FDI in retail in which SAD initially supported the UPA but soon took back its support after BJP’s opposition. But that is in the past tense now.

BJP stitched inter party and intra party differences in no time and is now fighting fit for the January 30 polls. (13.1.2012)

http://dailypioneer.com/nation/34629-bjp-unity-in-punjabs-political-diversity.html