BJP chief ministers feel the heat from party contenders, cadre

BJP General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh is on a visit to Karnataka to deal with the resentment against Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. He has been facing criticism from leaders opposed to him in state politics. Party national general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh is from the opposite camp with many alleging that he has chief ministerial ambitions. MPs and MLAs from his group have often slammed Yeddyurappa.

Since Yediyurappa is heading a government cobbled together with the support of legislators who defected from Congress, he has had to accommodate them in his ministry. This has also led to disenchantment among the BJP leaders who feel they have been deprived of their due.

Singh is in Karnataka to pacify the dissenters and hear their woes. Asked about remarks by BJP lawmakers against the CM, Singh told reporters, “Any MLA or party worker should always keep in mind that he should not do anything that harms the party in any way. They should not give any statement or take any step or utter anything that harms the party. They should think of this before they speak.”

BJP MLC AH Vishwanath, who claimed he had met Singh, said public perception about the government and the party under Yediyurappa is negative. “Yediyurappa’s age, health is not good. He is not in the spirit to run the government. Under his guidance, party should accommodate somebody else. Family intervention in administration is becoming worst.”

He alleged that Yediyurappa’s son and his friends were collecting funds. Some tenders were given arbitrarily, he told a news agency.

However, it would not be easy to replace Yediyurappa despite these charges and his age (he is 78) as he is the undisputed leader of the Lingayat community which constitutes 17% of the electorate and supports BJP.

Trouble has been brewing in Madhya Pradesh as well with some prominent BJP leaders expressing their ire against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to the party brass. His senior minister Narottam Mishra stormed out of a cabinet meeting chaired by Chouhan recently. Since Mishra played a key role in facilitating the switching over of Congress MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia that led to Chouhan replacing the Kamal Nath government, he ostensibly feels he deserves more.

Madhya Pradesh BJP Chief VD Sharma and general secretary (organisation) Suhas Bhagat have also tried to assert their authority in the present set-up. Sharma was in Delhi last week to meet the central leadership to complain against Chouhan, BJP sources said.

Chouhan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to discuss state administration issues. Though this was an official visit of the chief minister in which he met a host of union ministers- including Narendra Singh Tomar and Thawar Chand Gehlot who hail from his state- it is likely that the party issues also came up in his meetings.

BJP has preferred to have a OBC chief minister in Madhya Pradesh in recent years- from Uma Bharati to Babulal Gaur and then Chouhan who is in his fourth term. The central leadership will have to think twice before replacing Chouhan.

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb is again facing rebellion with the faction that switched over from TMC to BJP demanding his ouster. West Bengal leader Mukul Roy, who quit BJP to return to TMC last week, had engineered the defection of six TMC MLAs. He is now reportedly fanning the rebellion led by Sudip Roy Barman, leader of the pack. BJP has rushed party general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh to deal with the issue.

BJP had to change its chief minister in Assam where Himanta Biswa Sarma replaced Sarbananda Sonowal while in Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat had to step down and Tirath Singh Rawat took over. There is reportedly a lot of anger against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath among the state unit leaders but the party made it clear that he will not be replaced.