Sangh leaves Katiyar out in the cold

Vinay Katiyar, former chief of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP, seems to be headed for an extended stay in the political wilderness. 

Katiyar, who lost his job in the aftermath of  the BJP's disastrous showing the in the Lok Sabha polls (it managed to win only 10 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh), is being treated like a pariah by both the BJP and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

His fate came up for discussion yesterday at a meeting between VHP chief Ashok Singhal and Kalyan Singh, BJP leader in charge of Uttar Pradesh. According to sources present at the meeting, neither Singhal nor Singh appeared keen on retaining Katiyar.

"Katiyar is a backward class leader, who is raising issues such as free power for farmers to create fissures in Kalyan Singh's other backward classes (OBC) votebank," said a senior state BJP leader. "The VHP, too, is wary of him as Katiyar has changed since his Bajrang Dal days. They want a typical rabble-rouser, but he wants to be a political heavyweight," he said, adding, "Senior leaders there fear his ambition."

"While Singhal tried to convince Kalyan Singh to give Katiyar a role in the party, the latter said there was no suitable post for Katiyar in the BJP. Singhal said he was unable to accommodate Katiyar in the VHP either," said a source, who was present at the meeting.

Katiyar was probably justified in feeling victimised as nearly all senior BJP leaders, who suffered electoral defeats in the Lok Sabha polls, were later accommodated in the party.

BJP sources, however, said the party high command had not taken kindly to Katiyar's statements after being asked to resign. Katiyar had complained that he had not been "adequately warned before being removed from his post". "Even a man about to be hung is informed of the date of his punishment well in advance," Katiyar had said as he was replaced by Kesarinath Tripathi in the second week of July.

"After delivering such a poor verdict in Uttar Pradesh, he sent his name as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections from the state," said a senior leader.

Katiyar, who was the national president of the militant Bajrang Dal, till he joined the BJP before the 1996 polls, had made overtures to the VHP to accommodate him, not realising that he had become an untouchable for the party due to his "defection" to the BJP in search of a political post.