BJP draws up plans to reorganise party

MANDATE 2004

When outgoing Law Minister Arun Jaitley addressed what he called "BJP's first press conference as an Opposition party", the mood at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office was introspective.

Jaitley, known for his combative style, appeared disinclined to comment on the developments of the last few days. Although he welcomed the appointment of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister, the only time he looked animated was when asked to comment on Rahul Gandhi's comments on the BJP.

"I have only one thing to say, that Rahul Gandhi should be mindful of history," he said. Jaitley was reticent when it came to commenting on outgoing Health Minister Sushma Swaraj's statements on Sonia Gandhi as well.

"These are individual views and the party's stand on Sonia's foreign origin is well known," he said.

This reflects the general embarrassment felt by the BJP on Swaraj's threat to resign from the Rajya Sabha and tonsure her head, especially after Sonia Gandhi declined the PM's chair.

According to sources in the party, outgoing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is reluctant to be the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

He has, instead opted for the post of leader of the BJP parliamentary party, with Advani being leader of the Opposition.

"He does not want the post after being PM, especially after the embarrassment over the Swaraj episode,'' said a party source.

"For someone who wanted to be known more as a statesman rather than a politician, the Sushma episode has been the final embarrassment in a month of bad news," said a senior leader.

As part of the BJP's reorganisational exercise, high-flying ministers are likely to find themselves in the political wildernesses for a lesson in real politik.

Yashwant Sinha is to be packed off to Jharkhand where the state unit is due for a change as well as Assembly elections. Same is the case with Ravi Shankar Prasad.

With Sushil Kumar Modi having won his Lok Sabha seat, Prasad would be sent to prepare for the Assembly polls in the state. Pramod Mahajan is already in Maharashtra.

While in Uttar Pradesh, Vinay Katiyar who was to be spared the axe for the poor showing, the current trend shows that he too might go. The blame game within the party is now centering on the fact that only 18 seats had fresh candidates thus building a massive anti-incumbency for the remaining 300 odd BJP candidates.

At the central leadership, Venkaiah Naidu will continue as BJP president, and Arun Jaitley is likely to be inducted into the organisation as well. A strong contender for a top organisational is former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh.

As the BJP tries to get its act together, the party hopes that the present government would last the full term.

"The people would have gotten over the Sonia mania by then," said a senior party leader.