Anita Katyal | Why BJP Yet To Elect Head; Only Tharoor At Putin Event

The long overdue election of the next national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been on the back burner for a long time now. The present president, J.P. Nadda, took charge in 2020 for a three-year term but has been granted a series of extensions. The last one ended in June 2024 but Mr Nadda is still continuing in office. This delay has predictably fuelled considerable speculation about Mr Nadda’s successor with several names doing the rounds. Among those who have been mentioned include Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bhupendra Yadav and Manohar Lal Khattar. A new name has now been added to this list: V.D. Sharma, Lok Sabha MP from Khajuraho and former president of the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit. Known to be close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP leadership, the buzz about Mr Sharma picked up speed after his recent meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah which was followed up with the minister’s discussion with Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav. While preoccupation with elections has been cited as the primary reason for the delay in scheduling the election, it is also being attributed to the lack of consensus between the BJP and the RSS on this issue.

Here's the latest on the voluble and high-profile Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor’s ongoing battle with the Congress leadership. Not only has Mr Tharoor been skipping important party meetings, he also stayed away from the protests organised by the Congress during the ongoing Parliament session on the high pollution levels in the Capital and electoral reforms. In fact, Mr Tharoor was seen strategically coming to Parliament only after the protests were over. When the Congress floor leaders were discussing the names of speakers for the discussion on Vande Mataram, it was suggested that Mr Tharoor would be a good choice since he has written a book about his Hindu identity. However, it was immediately shot down by a senior party MP close to Rahul Gandhi who turned around and asked, “Shashi Tharoor who”. Now Mr Tharoor makes it a point to leave Parliament House along with BJP leaders or alone after making sure that Congress leaders have left. It was also noticed on one occasion that when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was walking into Parliament and Mr Tharoor was leaving, the two did not acknowledge each other. The invite to Mr Tharoor for the President’s banquet for Vladimir Putin has further alienated him as Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge were not extended the same courtesy though they are both leaders of Opposition in Parliament.

With the Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar tussle in Karnataka over the chief minister’s post showing no sign of ending, the Congress leadership is caught in a bind. It’s essentially a case of caste vs cash. Mr Siddaramaiah belongs to the backward classes who are being actively wooed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. It is, therefore, difficult for the Congress to replace its only OBC chief minister. Mr Shivakumar, on the other hand, is cash rich and has been funding the party in various state elections. Mr Shivakumar has met senior Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, to remind them about his contributions and that he was promised the CM’s post half-way during the tenure of the assembly. If the Congress fails to keep its word, an already weak leadership will end up discrediting itself further.

When Shivraj Singh Chouhan was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, his wife Sadhna Singh was always in the news. She was often referred to as half chief minister, having emerged as an alternate power centre in the government. Besides handling her husband’s constituency and controlling access to Chouhan, Sadhna Singh was also reported to have a say in the clearance of projects and transfer and posting of officials. Mr Chouhan’s successor Mohan Yadav appears to have taken a conscious decision to chart his own course. Since he is constantly compared to the more popular Chouhan, Mr Yadav has made sure that, in one respect, he scores over his predecessor. Mr Yadav has kept his family at a safe distance from the trappings of the chief minister’s office which continues to reside in Ujjain. Mr Yadav’s son recently got married at a mass marriage ceremony along with a group of other couples. Little or nothing is known about Mr Yadav’s wife. In fact, the question often asked in Bhopal is: “Who is Yadav’s Sadhna Singh?”

The meeting called by the Congress leadership to review the party’s poor showing in the recent Bihar Assembly polls ended on a predictable note. Instead of acknowledging its own shortcomings, the party blamed it all on vote chori, the SIR exercise and the lack of cooperation from the Rashtriya Janata Dal. But it was a different story when Rahul Gandhi met the Congress candidates individually. Most of them drew attention to the party’s failings, especially the leaders entrusted with overseeing election preparedness, selection of candidates and seat-sharing negotiations. They were indirectly blaming Rahul Gandhi for the team he picked but realised that no one will be held accountable when told by the Congress leader that no one person could be singled out and he, too, was responsible for the Bihar debacle.