Rift within BJP; Sushma Swaraj unhappy over decision on Jaswant Singh

New Delhi/Jaipur: Simmering differences within the BJP over denial of a Lok Sabha ticket to party veteran Jaswant Singh from Barmer in Rajasthan exploded on Saturday, with senior party leader Sushma Swaraj terming the move as “not a normal decision taken by the party top leadership”. She said she was pained by the decision. Her outburst is being seen as a major embarrassment for the BJP.

Seeking to corner the party leadership over the issue, Ms Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said, “There must be some reason because that ticket was not decided by the party’s central election committee. It was decided later. There must be some reason, but personally I am pained by this.”
The BJP denied a ticket to Mr Singh from Barmer on Friday, which led to speculation that he might contest as an independent.

“As far as the issue of Jaswant Singhji is concerned, it was a decision of the party. It was not a normal decision. Such type of decisions are not taken without any reason," Ms Swaraj told reporters in Bhopal. She had also publicly opposed the party leadership’s decision to reinduct B. Sreeramulu, a close aide of the Reddy brothers, who has been fielded from Bellary parliamentary constituency.

Meanwhile, keeping a suspense over his next step, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who broke down while speaking to the media in Jaipur on Saturday, called his party a divided house.

“There is a fight between the real and the fake BJP. I will show to them what the real BJP is,” the former Union minister said without taking any names, although it was apparent who he was referring to.

Although party president Rajnath Singh and senior leader Arun Jaitley tried to pacify him, calling him a senior leader whose stature could not be measured by a ticket and that his services would be utilised appropriately, Mr Singh went ahead to attack the party over what he called encroachment by outsiders.

“There is an encroachment on the BJP. It is overtaking the nature and character of the party. It’s so unfortunate that the party has been completely taken over by outsiders who have never had any respect for the party’s ideology,” an emotional Mr Singh told reporters as tears rolled down on his face.

The party had decided to field former Congressman Col. Sonaram Choudhary, who had joined the party four days ago, despite Mr Singh’s emotional plea that he wanted to contest his last election from his home.

Although his supporters have been putting pressure on him to contest as an independent, the veteran leader himself chose not to reveal his plans immediately. Mr Singh, who will reach Barmer on Sunday, refused to disclose his plans on whether he would be filing his nomination as an independent.

Despite his denial of a compromise now, the reluctance to burn bridges completely is being viewed as a possibility of rapprochement as rebellion might hurt his son
Manvendra Singh’s political career, who is an MLA from Sheo in Barmer.