Party chief Thakre will give serious thought’ to the row

NEW DELHI, MAY 7: Disidents in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP stepped up their campaign against Chief Minister Kalyan Singh today with...

NEW DELHI, MAY 7: Disidents in the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP stepped up their campaign against Chief Minister Kalyan Singh today with 36 BJP MLAs turning in their papers to party president Kushabhau Thakre.

Demanding Kalyan’s removal, about 20 legislators, including four MLCs, met Thakre for over three hours before submitting a “joint resignation letter” reportedly signed by 36 MLAs. They requested Thakre to forward their letter to the Speaker.

Thakre is reported to have assured them of giving “serious thought” to the issues raised by them. While Kalyan claimed he was unaware of any such move, his detractors, including Kalraj Mishra and Rajnath Singh, who are suspected to be behind the campaign, said they were “shocked.”

The resignation drama is still being seen as a game of brinkmanship by Kalyan’s rebels. And although Prime Minister A B Vajpayee himself said recently that there was no move to replace Kalyan, the crisis in the state BJP, many leaders feel, isn’t going to help the party in the build-up to the September polls.

Party spokesman K L Sharma said today that this was an “internal matter” and the dissidents “ought not to have made an issue out of it.” After failing to get a specific response from the BJP leadership, the dissident MLAs today left for Lucknow saying they would take the next step a week later. They are waiting for L K Advani to address the state executive.

The BJP and its allies have 225 MLAs in the 425-member Assembly and minus the 36 MLAs, the rag-tag coalition is in a clear minority. Though the Opposition parties celebrated the occasion by demanding an immediate test of strength in the Assembly, the BJP is unlikely to precipitate the crisis by forwarding the resignation letter to the Speaker.

The leadership appears firm on not changing Kalyan before the September elections, a decision it took during last week’s national executive of the party.

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However, dissidents accuse Kalyan of preparing dossiers on them and re-opening old cases. They are also said to have alleged to Thakre that there are two extra-constitutional power centres in the state: Kalyan’s son Rajvir Singh and his close aide, Lucknow corporator Kusum Rai.

The rebels ridiculed Kalyan’s claim that the ultimate test of his popularity was the poll results in which the BJP had increased its tally in the Lok Sabha from 51 in 1991 to 55 in 1996 and 58 in 1998. “What answer does he have for the BJP’s strength in the Assembly to be stuck at 177 for the past six years?” asked a dissident. “People vote for Atal during Lok Sabha polls but same people do not vote during Assembly elections because it would mean supporting Kalyan” claimed another rebel.