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Journalism of Courage
The Bharatiya Janata Party made a definitive move to reassure its traditional upper-caste votebank by appointing former Assembly speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi as Uttar Pradesh BJP president today. He replaces the party’s backward caste face in the state, Vinay Katiyar, former Faizabad MP, who was told to quit.
Though the party high command had made up its mind to replace Katiyar with Tripathi, the change was expected to take place through an election, which is already due. However, sources said the high command decided to sack Katiyar right away following his statements that he was being made a sacrificial goat after the Lok Sabha defeat.
The message of the party’s central leadership was conveyed to Katiyar today over the phone by national general secretary Sanjay Joshi. Sources close to Katiyar claim the party leadership wanted Katiyar to make the resignation appear a voluntary one. ‘‘He was asked to mention that he was resigning from the state presidentship as he was not keeping well,’’ they say. That was apparently Joshi’s message for Katiyar.
But Katiyar refused and faxed a resignation letter to the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, which read: ‘‘Sanjay Joshi called me up today and informed me that you wanted me to resign. I was waiting for the proposed meeting as decided by you on the situation of the party in the State, but somehow, you could not give me time for that. Today, I am submitting my resignation as directed by you with immediate effect.’’
Later, Katiyar told The Indian Express: ‘‘I am not annoyed but the way it is done is not correct.’’ He added: ‘‘I have been told to resign, but I still do not know why. Even a criminal is told of the reasons for his punishment.’’
Katiyar felt that it was not fair to fix the responsibility for defeat on him. The election campaign was managed by a committee. He said the party performed badly in many states, but he alone had been singled out for punishment.
In an apparent reference to general secretary Rajnath Singh, who led the BJP in last Assembly polls, Katiyar sought to know why wasn’t the responsibility fixed after last Assembly polls, when the party’s vote share dipped from 32 per cent to 20 per cent.
He carefully avoided comments on the proposed president but raised the issue of his selection. ‘‘The election process would have taken 10 days and the central leadership, it appears, does not want to wait that long,’’ he said.
After the resignation drama ended, Katiyar left for his favourite destination, Ayodhya. But, before leaving Lucknow, he held a darbar at his Gomti Nagar residence and also had a closed-door meeting with party state vice-president and his close confidant, H N Dixit.
BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Naidu had accepted the resignation of Katiyar and appointed Tripathi in his place with immediate effect.
The choice of Tripathi, 71, a Brahmin, indicates that the BJP leadership is trying to retrieve its core upper-caste constituency. The tie-up with BSP leader Mayawati, the party believes, has eroded the party base among upper castes. On the other hand, the BJP has not been able to expand its base among weaker sections.
While Tripathi is a senior leader with a clean image, his age and a lack of state-wide organisational experience would be his major handicaps. His own involvement in grassroot-level politics has been Allahabad-centric. Consequently, he shares an uneasy relationship with the more famous local politican, Murli Manohar Joshi.
