| BJP’s futile debate over prime ministerial candidate! | |||
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By: Ganesh Sovani January 08, 2007 Views expressed here are author’s own and not of this website. Full disclaimer is at the bottom. 
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(The author is Advocate at Bombay High Court ) One is amazed by the oft repeated claims made by various leaders of the BJP, ever since Lal Krishna Advani pushed up his claim a fortnight ago, as a party’s candidate for the prime ministership when the next Parliamentary poll takes place in 2009, by equating his position with the ‘leader of the opposition’ under the British Parliamentary system, who is often regarded as ‘a potential prime ministerial candidate’ should there is a change over. As if this was not enough, BJP’s second rung leader Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi hastened to add that there was no dearth of candidates in the party for the most coveted post in the country, by virtually pushing up his stake over it. To compound this scenario, its incumbent president Rajnath Singh described himself as the ‘bridegroom in waiting’, on the eve of party’s national executive meeting held at Lucknow, which was nothing but his ‘show of strength’ exercise ! All this depicts the BJP in a poor light, as it has been relegated to the fourth position during 2004 polls in Uttar Pradesh, which was once its power of strength in previous Parliamentary polls. The BJP is in power on its own in the smaller states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, MP and Chattisgarh. Whereas in the states like Bihar, Karnataka and Orissa where it is in power due to tie up with the regional allies. It is in very poor shape Maharashtra, where it was in power seven year ago being an alliance partner of the Shiv Sena. Even as on the date, in the states like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the BJP has no presence at all. The BJP’s alliance with the JD (U) in Bihar and with JD (S) in Karnataka periodically develops some fissures, even on petty issues like contents in history text books, etc. One can’t forget the fact the BJP came into power through NDA in 1999, largely due to its alliance with the TDP and AIDMK and lost the power in 2004 polls, as both TDP and AIDMK were completely decimated in AP and TN by Congress (I) and DMK respectively. With such a shrinking of vote bank and dwindling of number of seats in the Parliament, how can the BJP aspire to come into power, when its allies like TDP and TMC have already fallen apart and it is a matter of time, when its one time ‘fire fighter’ George Fernandes snaps up his ties with the BJP, which had unwarrantedly and undeservingly defended his ‘defence deals’ during the NDA rule. As a cadre based and otherwise disciplined party, one had expected the BJP to play the crucial role of ‘watch dog’ in Parliament and push the government to the corner on many serious issues, like security, law & order, electricity shortage, price rise, drought, farmers suicides, etc. where the UPA government has miserably failed. However, the BJP is adopting a very recalcitrant attitude in Parliament by engaging in the disruption of the house and by boycotting the proceedings, which costs nearly Rs. 16,000 per minute to country’s exchequer. Its similar approach during the budget session early this year had resulted in passing of a very important Criminal Procedure Code amendments bill (having far reaching consequences on the life and liberty of a citizen), in barely thirty minutes, when the entire day for a serious debate might not had been enough, especially when it has legal stalwart like Arun Jaitley at its disposal, albeit in upper house. Due to its attitude, no serious debate is taking place in either house of the Parliament and the people are being deprived of knowing, how the government is tackling serious issues confronted by the country. Be that as it may, it is highly unlikely that BJP would come into power on its own, at least for a decade or so, unless the UPA in general and Congress (I) in particular do something extremely silly, which would severely cost the nation. Hence, it is high time that the BJP leaders behave sensibly and give up a futile debate on the prime ministerial candidate, or else they would all end up in becoming a laughing stock. Should it try to fan the feelings of the voters in the Hindi heartland by clamoring for ‘Ram Mandir once again, then it would turn out to be a self defeating exercise, as a common man is more concerned with the problem confronted by him daily, rather than with sentimental issues. Ganesh Sovani
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