It was the year 2000 and Bangaru Laxman had everything going for him, when he took over as BJP president on August 27. As a Dalit and south Indian, he was packaged as the face of the new-look BJP.Just seven months later, on March 13, 2001, at a meeting of senior leaders at the BJP headquarters in the capital, convened at short notice, Bangaru Laxman was asked to put in his papers. A television sting operation had shown him accepting Rs 1 lakh as bribe. The TV visual that framed him acquired a life of its own.Practically dumped by the BJP ever since, the former party president is a member of the party’s national executive, making a low-key appearances at its meetings. He spends most of his time in Hyderabad, and visits New Delhi occasionally. So what keeps him occupied? “Party work”, Laxman told The Indian Express from Hyderabad. “It is nothing compared to the role I once had at the national level,” he admits, “but I am engaged in party work still.”Bangaru Laxman says he is mostly sought out by the SC Morcha, the BJP’s Dalit wing. “I was recently invited by the Morcha to Thiruvananthapuram and Maharashtra. And of course, the Andhra unit of the BJP invites me to all their events and functions”.His take on the cash-for-vote scam: “It is clear that people from the deprived sections were again sought to be trapped.” — a reference to the fact that of the three MPs who claim to have been approached by the bribe-givers, two belong to the ST and one to the SC community. “The BJP must stand by the whistle-blower MPs,” he says.
