BJP president to meet party’s Pune unit to stem rebellion

MUMBAI, Aug 18: The trouble in the Pune unit of the BJP seems no closer to a resolution even if a meeting is slated late today with the n...

MUMBAI, Aug 18: The trouble in the Pune unit of the BJP seems no closer to a resolution even if a meeting is slated late today with the national president, Kushabhau Thakre. The Pune unit had rebelled on Monday after the party declared the candidature of Anna Joshi for the Pune Lok Sabha seat, inviting howls of protest from the cadres who were expecting the Pune chief, Pradeep Ravat to be named.

Meanwhile, the state party leadership is now trying to pacify Ravat, who had resigned on Monday from his party post. Though there is no news of when and where the meeting with Thakre will be held, sources in the party, however, said the cadres were unlikely to defy the party even if their demand is not met.

The state party committee had recommended Ravat’s name, since he is young and had roped in the cadres rather well into the activities in the last three years or so.

Anna Joshi, on the other hand, is a veteran of saffron politics, and had his past in his favour. The Central leadership is understood to havedecided that he was a tried hand in the Pune seat and would be the right choice. Party office bearers emphasised that there was nothing averse about either of the candidates, despite a rather unsavoury controversy about three years back about Anna’s lifestyle.

Anna was denied the Lok Sabha ticket in 1998, when the BJP decided not to field a candidate from Pune, in favour of Suresh Kalmadi, who was then contesting as an independent. Kalmadi had then lost to Vithal Tupe of the Congress.

In fact, the contradictions in the party in Pune reflect other such constituencies where the party organisation has grown and now cannot accommodate leaders of two generations.