New Delhi:
From within the BJP, a steady hum of dissent over the last few weeks is scaling up into a thumping campaign against party president Nitin Gadkari. He is combating charges of venality. In the increasing dissent against him, lie the attempts by other A-listers from his party to position themselves as his replacement, and to push for a major recalibration of power through a reallocation of important party posts, including Mr Gadkari's.
A flurry of meetings this morning reflect the political tug of war within the main Opposition party; the BJP's ideological mentor, the RSS, deputed a representative to placate the camps for and against Mr Gadkari. The BJP's core group is expected to meet in the evening.
The RSS is so far backing Mr Gadkari through his current crisis, calling for "an impartial probe" but warning over the weekend that "the president will not be removed as the result of any sort of conspiracy." At the same time, it has also said that a "conspiracy" can't dislodge the party president. This is being seen as a signal to those within the party jockeying to get Mr Gadkari to quit.
The faultlines caused by Mr Gadkari's crisis have intersected with a party divide over whether Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi should ascend to his party's national stage. His supporters want him to be made the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. Others like Sushma Swaraj and LK Advani are resolutely opposed to that.
Ms Swaraj, Mr Advani and Mr Gadkari met this morning. Separately, senior BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh met this morning with S Gurumurthy of the RSS. Mr Gurumurthy's job could very well be to ward off any immediate threat the BJP chief. Mr Gurumurthy is also seen as close to Mr Modi. He later visited Ms Swaraj.
Ram Jethmalani, BJP member and Rajya Sabha MP, said this morning that Mr Gadkari's resignation as president is "urgently called for." He also said that other senior leaders of the BJP appear to agree. "I have been in touch with Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha and we seem to be on the same wavelength, but I cannot predict how they will act tomorrow," Mr Jethmalani said.
(Read)Yesterday, his son Mahesh, who is a member of the BJP national executive, said he cannot serve the party as long as it's headed by Mr Gadkari. The Jethmalanis are seen as Modi supporters.
The BJP has said that Mr Gadkari will serve the rest of his term which expires in December. A second term, favoured by the RSS, is unlikely.
Sources close to leaders like Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh say that they are making the point that corruption charges against the president are asphyxiating the BJP's clean-governance promise ahead of the elections. The BJP has been attacking the Congress over a series of financial scams; an investigation against its top man nullifies that campaign.
The crisis in the BJP has been precipitated by allegations that ghost investors, tax evasion and money-laundering lurked in the shadows of the large business Mr Gadkari co-founded in 2000. He resigned as its chairman last year and now holds a mere 200 shares.
The charges of financial malpractice were raised first by NDTV last month; the BJP president appeared in its studios to counter them. The government predictably and expeditiously ordered a thorough investigation of the investor firms in Purthi Power and Sugar Limited, the company that Mr Gadkari helped create.
Sources in the income tax department say that early inquiries confirm that bogus addresses and directors were a staple among the investor firms who bought into Purthi.