BJP may lose vote-bank by keeping Gupta as UP CM

The BJP has already lost the Dalits in the state to the Bahujan Samaj Party and the OBCs to the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Kranti Party, Apna Dal and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. While the BJP has been reduced to being essentially an upper-caste party, state leaders feel that the leadership’s handling of the UP situation has antagonised the two major upper castes — Brahmins and Thakurs — also.

“Instead of making a hue and cry over change of guard in the state, the party leadership could have quietly reviewed the situation without summoning the entire state leadership to Delhi. If it wanted to replace Gupta with either Rajnath or Kalraj, it could have done so swiftly by asking Gupta to put in his papers,” a senior BJP leader from the state said.

The state leaders are also angry with the central leaders for issuing conflicting statements, leading to political instability in Uttar Pradesh. They cite the recent statements of vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy and general secretary Sanghpriya Gautam hinting at imminent change of guard in UP.

At last night’s meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence, the state leaders are learnt to have attributed the party’s poor performance in the panchayat polls to political instability induced by the central leadership. “The cadre was demoralised by such statements, which also made the bureaucrats ignore `outgoing’ Chief Minister’s orders,” a senior party office-bearer claimed.

In a bid to stall Rajnath’s appointment, top BJP leaders Kalraj Mishra, Urban Affairs Minister Lalji Tandon and state party chief Om Prakash Singh painted a rosy picture. They are learnt to have told Vajpayee that they had excellent relations with Gupta and the four had been meeting at least an hour every day for better cooperation among themselves and to promote collective leadership.

The four state leaders had been warned by the Central leaders during their previous meeting on June 11 to improve coordination or else there would be a complete overhaul of the party and the government. Taking the warning as a prelude to Rajnath’s appointment as CM, they are learnt to have hastily put their act together.

Gupta loyalists claim that the Chief Minister had fulfilled both the tasks assigned to him by the Central leadership at the time of his appointment last year. “He not only managed to ward off Kalyan Singh’s threat, but also put an end to the factionalism prevailing for the past five years,” an associate of the Chief Minister said.