Casualties are rising steadily as the Bharatiya Janata Party wages a low intensity war against its sidelined leader Sanjay Joshi. The party is thoroughly unhappy with Joshi’s growing popularity among party workers and the latest victim of this displeasure is Jaswant Yadav, a member of the executive committee of the BJP’s Haryana unit.
“I committed the crime of presenting Sanjay Joshi a 53-kilogram laddu and putting up hoardings to mark his birthday on April 6,” said Yadav.
Yadav explained that he has not yet received a formal sacking letter, but has been unofficially dismissed from the executive committee. “Perhaps the central leadership wants to drop me from the panel without letting it become an issue in the media,” he said. “The state party office verbally informed me that I have been dropped on the direction of the central leadership, which is furious because of my association with Sanjay Joshi.”
Yadav’s removal comes close on the heels of the party sacking Union minister Shripad Naik’s private secretary Nitin Sardare, who was accused of putting up posters praising Joshi, and seeking an explanation from some of the BJP MPs and ministers who greeted Joshi on his birthday.
Backlash in the party
Joshi, who was an all-powerful BJP general secretary in charge of the organisation between 2001 and 2005, is considered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bête noire and has been persona non grata in the party for some time. In the last few months, however, his popularity has soared among the BJP’s lower level leaders and workers, particularly in the Hindi belt.
BJP insiders say the autocratic functioning of national president Amit Shah has resulted in a large number of partymen getting alienated. This in turn has contributed in reviving the cadres’ interest in Joshi, who is seen as a man of organisation with a good rapport with every level of the party as well as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
In its desperation to curb Joshi’s popularity, the party first sacked Sardare and then sent out notices to some MPs for greeting Joshi on his birthday. But since that action resulted in a series of unfriendly media headlines, the BJP top brass has pushed its assault on Joshi under the radar.
“It’s just a spark, and soon it will turn into a blaze,” said a BJP leader on condition of anonymity. “Wait till Bihar polls. Why is nobody happy in the party? Talk to parliamentarians, legislators, ministers and workers and they will tell you that they feel suffocated.”
Yadav added, “What the party desperately needs is someone who can think about the organisation. You cannot run a party with the help of missed calls. The missed call culture may give you a false satisfaction that your membership is growing at a phenomenal rate. But on the ground, it does not mean much. Ultimately, it is the organisation that matters.”
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“I committed the crime of presenting Sanjay Joshi a 53-kilogram laddu and putting up hoardings to mark his birthday on April 6,” said Yadav.
Yadav explained that he has not yet received a formal sacking letter, but has been unofficially dismissed from the executive committee. “Perhaps the central leadership wants to drop me from the panel without letting it become an issue in the media,” he said. “The state party office verbally informed me that I have been dropped on the direction of the central leadership, which is furious because of my association with Sanjay Joshi.”
Yadav’s removal comes close on the heels of the party sacking Union minister Shripad Naik’s private secretary Nitin Sardare, who was accused of putting up posters praising Joshi, and seeking an explanation from some of the BJP MPs and ministers who greeted Joshi on his birthday.
Backlash in the party
Joshi, who was an all-powerful BJP general secretary in charge of the organisation between 2001 and 2005, is considered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bête noire and has been persona non grata in the party for some time. In the last few months, however, his popularity has soared among the BJP’s lower level leaders and workers, particularly in the Hindi belt.
BJP insiders say the autocratic functioning of national president Amit Shah has resulted in a large number of partymen getting alienated. This in turn has contributed in reviving the cadres’ interest in Joshi, who is seen as a man of organisation with a good rapport with every level of the party as well as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
In its desperation to curb Joshi’s popularity, the party first sacked Sardare and then sent out notices to some MPs for greeting Joshi on his birthday. But since that action resulted in a series of unfriendly media headlines, the BJP top brass has pushed its assault on Joshi under the radar.
“It’s just a spark, and soon it will turn into a blaze,” said a BJP leader on condition of anonymity. “Wait till Bihar polls. Why is nobody happy in the party? Talk to parliamentarians, legislators, ministers and workers and they will tell you that they feel suffocated.”
Yadav added, “What the party desperately needs is someone who can think about the organisation. You cannot run a party with the help of missed calls. The missed call culture may give you a false satisfaction that your membership is growing at a phenomenal rate. But on the ground, it does not mean much. Ultimately, it is the organisation that matters.”