HVK Archives: Heading for a split - An editorial
Heading for a split - An editorial - Indian Express - Editorial
Posted By ashok (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
27 June 1996
Title : Heading for a split
Publication : Indian Express - Editorial
Date : June 27, 1996
THE central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party
appears to have concluded that a split in its fractious
Gujarat unit is not only inevitable, but highly
desirable. The organisational changes in the state unit
effected on Tuesday prompt the conclusion that there is
a determined bid to isolate dissident leader
Shankersinh Vaghela by dividing the erstwhile
"khajurias". It is not that Vaghela is being shown the
door, but that the party is being made sufficiently
inhospitable for him to want to opt out voluntarily. A
key element of this strategy is the reassurance given to
Chief Minister Suresh Mehta by the BJP leadership that
nothing will be done to destabilise his position. In
other words, if Mehta distances himself from Vaghela and
accepts the organisation hegemony of the former Chief
Minister Keshubhai Patel, he will be allowed the luxury
of heading the Government. For Mehta, this is the best
deal possible. If he goes with Vaghela, he not only
risks his chief ministership, but faces an uncertain
political future as well. After all, the Pate] loyalists
have successfully demonstrated during the general
election that they are capable of scuttling the prospects
of the khajurias, even at the risk of ensuring the
victory of the Congress. Vaghela's own defeat in the Lok
Sabha election indicated, the political vulnerability of
the khajurias, and it is hardly that the ranks of the
dissidents have shrunk consequently. Even the outcry over
the shameful humiliation of a senior Vaghela loyalist in
Ahmedabad last month has not helped the khajurias to
regain the advantage.
Despite the risks involved in forcing a split in the
party, the central leadership of the BJP could not have
acted otherwise. The party may have won 16 Lok Sabha
seats from Gujarat and reasserted its dominant status,
but there were clear indications that the electorate was
not very happy with the way the party has conducted
itself in Government. The dismal turnout of voters was a
warning to the BJP to either perform or perish. The
marginalisation of Vaghela was a natural consequence.
But, having taken the plunge, the leadership will have to
ensure that Vaghela lacks the requisite numbers to
compromise the stability of the Government. If it fails,
the fallout will not be confined to Gujarat.
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