Political Gup-Shup | UP BJP unease over Yogi’s Kumbh role… Will Kejriwal ploy on Yamuna water work? | Anita Katyal

There is growing unease in the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit over chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s unrelenting campaign at self-promotion, particularly how he was using the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela to build a personality cult. His critics would like to believe the stampede at the mela site, in which 30 devotees were killed, will dim the UP chief minister’s aura but his camp followers are sure this unfortunate episode will soon become a distant memory. In fact, Yogi Adityanath’s supporters were hoping that last week’s meeting of the Dharma Sansad (the Parliament of Hindu saints and seers) would endorse the chief minister as the BJP’s future prime ministerial candidate. They cited the example of the Dharma Sansad meeting held during the 2013 Kumbh Mela which urged the BJP to declare Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial face in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. But there was no word on Yogi this time. Could this have something to do with Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to the mela on the eve of the Dharma Sansad meeting? Or was this only a coincidence.

The BJP has always ridiculed the Congress for encouraging sycophancy in its ranks as its workers always deify members of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Chants and slogans praising them have been a routine affair, given that the Congress survives on dispensing patronage. Most of the regional parties, especially the AIADMK under the late J. Jayalalithaa, were no different. If Congress leaders invariably begin their statements owing allegiance to the party’s “First Family”, AIADMK leaders did the same, even going as far as to carry Jayalalithaa’s photo on their person. Going by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech on Saturday, the BJP has become a card-carrying member of this club. The FM did not forget to give due credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and guidance for every new reform, project, scheme or tax concession announced by her. Similarly, BJP MPs took a clue from Mr Modi when it came to thumping their desks during the speech while chants of “Modi, Modi” rang out when the new income-tax rates for the middle class were announced.

Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal has acquired a reputation for upsetting the best-laid plans of his political rivals with his surprise statements. But, even by his own standards, Mr Kejriwal outdid himself with his outrageous charge that the BJP’s Haryana government was “poisoning” the Yamuna water it was supplying to Delhi to tarnish the Delhi government’s image in the run-up to the February 5 election. Those who know Mr Kejriwal say there’s a method in his madness and that he had his reasons for making such a statement. It is learned that the AAP’s internal surveys showed that water scarcity, the poor quality of water, corruption at the Delhi Jal Board and people’s dependence on the “tanker mafia” were among the key issues that were working against the AAP government. Mr Kejriwal successfully diverted attention from these while leading to a flurry of activity in the BJP, which was forced to field its top brass to hit back at him.

With the Bharatiya Janata Party picking on any issue to corner the Congress, the latter is having to factor in the possibility of being targeted by its political rival even while deciding minor matters. As the party prepares to shift to its new headquarters on Delhi’s Kotla Road, the BJP angle came up during the discussion on the food which would be served at the canteen. There was a view that only vegetarian food should be served or else the BJP would run a campaign against it. Others felt the Congress should not allow the BJP to decide its meal preferences. After much debate, the Congress is veering around to handing over the food arrangements to a well-known Delhi catering firm which will serve non-vegetarian food. A similar discussion took place when the party was making arrangements last December for the Congress Working Committee meeting at Belagavi. A section of party leaders felt they should serve only vegetarian food as it would invite criticism from the BJP since this meeting was commemorating the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi presiding over the Congress session in 1924 at Belagavi (then Belgaum). Eventually, the Congress decided to serve only vegetarian meals in deference to Mahatma Gandhi and not because it feared a BJP backlash.

It is no secret that Rahul Gandhi was initially reluctant to campaign in the Delhi Assembly elections in an effort to keep the INDIA bloc together. This had frustrated the Delhi Congress unit, which wanted the party to put up a good fight even if it meant attacking the Aam Aadmi Party. Congress state leaders argued that the AAP was the bigger threat as its social base had been hijacked by the Kejriwal-led party and that its revival was contingent on the AAP losing its credibility. A poor showing by the AAP in Delhi would also mean it would find it difficult to pose a serious challenge to the Congress in other states. It was only after the AAP released an election poster listing Rahul Gandhi among corrupt politicians that the Delhi Congress succeeded in convincing him to campaign and take on Mr Kejriwal. Consequently, Rahul Gandhi addressed a series of meetings in the last few days of the campaign. But it could be a proverbial case of too little, too late.

Anita Katyal is a Delhi-based journalist