BJP office-bearers meet fails to resolve MP leadership row

The real reason, however, is the intractable leadership battle in the State between former chief ministers Sunderlal Patwa and Kailash Joshi and current Leader of the Opposition in MP Vikram Verma.

With BJP president Kushabhau Thakre solidly behind Patwa, he should have been the logical choice for Chief Minister. Except that a large chunk of the state unit is arraigned against him.

Hisdetractors in MP have been quick to remind the high command that the BJP lost the State to the Congress in the 1993 polls under his leadership. Worse, Patwa failed to retain the Chhindwada seat in the 1998 parliamentary elections.

The former Chief Minister also has a powerful enemy in the fiery sanyasin, Uma Bharati, who has accused him of an anti-OBC bias. She is one of the star campaigners for the party in the State and is feared to be whimsical enough to refuse to help put Patwa back in the saddle.

BJP spokesman Venkaiah Naidu sidestepped all queries today on the MP leadership issue, maintaining that the party did not feel it necessary to take a decision at this point. The formation of a tribal state of Chhattisgarh was on the cards, he said, and the party wanted to take advantage of this by not depending on one single individual.

Party insiders disclosed that the majority of the state unit was batting for Verma who is considered to be neutral and is said to have a clean image. However, the factionled by Lakhiram Agarwal, backed by Thakre, is believed to have opposed the suggestion to let Verma lead the party in the polls.

A special meeting on MP is scheduled to be held on November 1 where a final decision will be taken on the leadership business. But sources admitted that the party is scared of backing one faction against the other and upsetting the apple cart in a State which it expects to win.

Meanwhile, the BJP will kick off its campaign for the assembly elections, which Naidu described as “crucial”, with a rally in Delhi tomorrow, to be addressed by Vajpayee and a host of central ministers including Home Minister L K Advani.

On Sunday, Vajpayee will inaugurate the campaign in Rajasthan with a rally in Udaipur and in the first week of November, he will set the MP campaign rolling.