Having realised that emotive issues like Ayodhya have lost their electoral vitality, the BJP has been playing development politics and the clean governance card for some time. In a way, the party has been trying to re-invent itself to suit the needs of the changing times. But as it once again pitchforks governance as the main election issue in Bihar, the crisis in Karnataka and the not-so-recent developments in Jharkhand are casting a shadow on its agenda.
A little over two years after it came to power in Karnataka, hoping to make Bangalore the gateway for storming the so far impregnable South India, rampant factional feuds, allegations of corruption and political mismanagement have overshadowed governance. In fact, there is a palpable sense of disquiet in the party over chief minister BS Yeddyurappa?s penchant to hurtle from one crisis to another. Given the complex caste equations in Karnataka, even replacing Yeddyurappa?who belongs to the dominant Lingayat caste?is not an easy task.
A section of the central leaders resent the clout enjoyed by the Reddy brothers and feel they played a role in contributing to the tainted image acquired by the BSY government. Added to that are the corruption charges faced by several members of his Cabinet and the machinations against him by a powerful section within the BJP that threaten to destabilise the government every now and then.
In short, Karnataka militates against the BJP?s self-professed development and clean governance agenda and many in the party grudgingly admit this fact in private.
As the party awaits the ruling of the Bangalore High Court on the Speaker?s disqualification of MLAs, which paved the way for the BJP government?s victory in the trust vote, the feeling in the party is that even a favourable verdict would only provide a temporary relief. Many believe the crisis-prone BSY government can never be safe. Government formation in Jharkhand with the tainted JMM further reflected the inherent flaw in the image the BJP wants to cultivate.
The party was seen as desperately trying to wrest a shot at power in Jharkhand. Differences in the central leadership came out in the open as many felt the BJP?s credibility had taken a beating. No wonder, several top leaders stayed away from Arjun Munda?s coronation and disassociated themselves from the formation of the BJP-JMM government in the tribal-dominated state. The regular scenes of the newly sworn-in chief minister rushing to Delhi and meeting party elders to take their blessings were not to be seen this time around.
Narendra Modi continues to be the BJP?s sole development and governance mascot though Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Raman Singh aspire to share the honours. The irony also is that while the BJP swears by the governance theme, in Bihar it is its partner JD(U) and chief minister Nitish Kumar who takes the entire credit for whatever development that state has seen in the last five years; the BJP is simply seen as a passenger. BJP leaders during the poll campaign may repeatedly point to the improved law and order situation, better roads and infrastructure as the successes of the NDA government, but the fact of the matter is that Kumar looks set to claim the agenda on which the BJP has not been able to stamp its authority.