Anita Katyal | BJP Happy With Rise Of Priyanka? Digvijaya Issues Warning To Cong

The Bharatiya Janata Party is keeping a keen eye on internal developments in the Congress, currently witnessing a growing demand from a section in the party seeking a larger national role for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Contrary to popular belief that the BJP is worried about Priyanka’s ascendancy in the Congress, it would only be too happy if this demand gains speed in the coming days. In fact, the BJP has been doing its bit to project Priyanka Gandhi and build her profile. Television channels which are known for Congress bashing are airing laudatory programmes on Priyanka while details about her easy conversations with BJP leaders at an all-party meeting in the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chamber was given wide publicity. The BJP will obviously be hoping that the “Priyanka lao” demand in the Congress will create confusion in its rank and file and even drive a wedge between Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi. In fact, the BJP will not be perturbed if Priyanka is projected as the Congress face as it feels she is more vulnerable given the pending financial cases against her husband Robert Vadra. As it happens, Priyanka is set to concentrate on the party’s political programmes and messaging both inside and outside Parliament while Rahul Gandhi will focus on the party’s ideological battle and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on organisational matters.

Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s recent remarks on the need for organisational reforms in the party and praise for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh may not have gone down well with the leadership but his plainspeak has won him many admirers. Mr Singh has been inundated with messages of support from Congress leaders from across the states, saying he had raised valid points about the shortcomings in the Congress organisation and that he should continue to focus on them. Mr Singh may feel encouraged with the support he is getting but, as a seasoned politician, he is well aware that those who privately agree with him today will be the first to shun him if the party leadership comes down hard on him. As it happens, Mr Singh’s comments were heard in silence by the party top brass and others at the recent meeting of the Congress Working Committee but none rose to endorse his views. Mr Singh had drawn attention to the centralisation of power in the party at the CWC meet while emphasising the need for strengthening the party organisation. He also heaped praise on the impressive functioning of the BJP and RSS where grassroot workers could go on to become chief ministers and Prime Minister.

A scrutiny of former chief ministers, ministers and MLAs in Jammu and Kashmir who have been overstaying in their official accommodation revealed that former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress chief spokesperson Ravinder Sharma figured in the list. While the leniency shown to Mr Azad is not surprising as he has been cosying up to the Bharatiya Janata Party since he parted company with the Congress, it is not clear how a Congress spokesperson and party vice-president had been allowed to stay in the government house allotted to him even after he ceased to be an MLC. Mr Sharma got a stay order from the court and continued to occupy the place for seven years as no effort was made by government agencies to get it vacated. Predictably, serious questions are being raised in Jammu and Kashmir political circles if there was a quid pro quo which led the ruling dispensation to turn a blind eye in this instance. The Congress spokesperson has now told the court he will vacate the place in two months. In Mr Azad’s case, the government has responded to the court’s last warning with an affidavit, saying the former chief minister had been granted an extension till April 2026 after which a competent committee will review the matter. It is anybody’s case how this matter will pan out.

After its convincing victory in Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party is now eyeing a repeat in neighbouring West Bengal. Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have made confident declarations about forming the next government in the state, the BJP has a tough task ahead. It is not that chief minister and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is not vulnerable but the BJP is hampered by factional battles in its state unit. Mr Shah’s closed-door meeting with senior BJP leaders last week was essentially aimed at getting the warring leaders to work together but it’s not an easy task given the intense hostility between the party’s old timers and newcomers. The traditional BJP leaders are particularly upset that Suvendu Adhikari, formerly with Trinamul Congress, draws larger crowds than any of them. It was hoped that BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya’s seniority and deep roots in the party would help build a cohesive unit but that’s not the case as he does not get along with his colleagues Dilip Ghosh or Sukanta Majumdar or Rahul Sinha. At one point, he even ticked off Mr Adhikari for recalling his days with the Trinamul and wondered why he had joined the BJP.