IN death, and in the manner in which he died, Mahajan has been anointed the number three in the party—or number two, if Vajpayee and Advani are regarded as one ‘senior ageing leadership’. With him gone, competition is likely to intensify to fill the slot.While it’s too early for BJP president Rajnath Singh to scout around for Mahajan’s replacement, the untimely death has disturbed internal equations within the party. Despite his occasional contrarian whims, Mahajan helped Singh balance the L K Advani camp, with the late general secretary a happy match for Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar.Since both Singh and Mahajan shared a good rapport with former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, they could together work on him to cope with intra-party challenges. Singh is bereft of this assistance now.In Maharashtra, Mahajan was a similar source of strength for brother-in-law Gopinath Munde. With Mahajan out, the new axis of Mahadev Shivankar, Pandurang Phunkar, Eknath Khadse and Vinod Tawde may seek to appropriate Munde’s clout.His absence will also be felt in relations with the Shiv Sena, the BJP’s oldest ally. Mahajan’s personal rapport with Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, combined with his closeness with Raj Thackeray, could have helped the party strike alliances with both; that’s a no-hoper now.
