A secret meeting between Arun Kumar, the RSS joint general secretary who coordinates between the BJP and the Sangh, and the BJP high command has created ripples in the party’s upper echelons. The meeting lasted several hours and was held at the BJP headquarters’ separate extension on Deen Dayal Uphadyaya Marg. Amit Shah, BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh, and party president J P Nadda were present. Kumar is believed to have questioned the government’s judgment in retaining a large number of central ministers and state leaders, suggesting that neither talent nor popularity with the people seemed the main criterion. He feared that people in power were making the same mistake as the Congress in deliberately ignoring charismatic faces and talent, who they assumed were larger than the system. Some wondered whose views Kumar, a techno-savvy pracharak who once headed the RSS’s media call and replaced Krishna Gopal in 2021, were reflecting. The RSS’s powerful general secretary, Dattareya Hosabale, who is in charge of actual functioning of the organisation and is close to Narendra Modi, or Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS sarsanghchalak who generally avoids interfering in day-to-day organisational matters.
Powerless president
It is over six months since Mallikarjun Kharge was appointed Congress president, but a new working committee and office bearers are yet to be appointed. Kharge is chafing since he has little say in many decisions. The thorn in his side is general secretary K C Venugopal, who calls the shots. Kharge is too timid to constantly check with Rahul Gandhi if Venugopal is speaking on his behalf. Kharge aspires to have a powerful political secretary, in the mould of the late Ahmed Patel, to counter Venugopal, who is from Kerala and has a language problem in communicating with party persons from the north. In fact, the Congress team is geographically unbalanced as Kharge, Venugopal and general secretary in charge of the media, Jairam Ramesh, are all from south India. A speculation in the party office is that even if Venugopal, Gandhi’s favourite and former bench mate in Parliament, is removed from his present post, he may be elevated as party vice president. In fact, the famous G-23 letter is believed to have been aimed not as much at the Gandhis, but at the growing clout of KCV.
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Game of thrones
The battle for Maharashtra in the forthcoming Assembly elections is also a proxy war between Amit Shah and Sharad Pawar. The latter seemed to score a point in this game of thrones – to ensure that the majority of his party do not bolt to the BJP side, he appointed his daughter Supriya Sule and his lieutenant Praful Patel as the NCP’s working presidents. The move is to keep his nephew Ajit Pawar in his place. Sharad Pawar is aware of the discontent in his party with questions raised on why, when loyalists like Nawab Malik and Chhagan Bhujbal have spent long periods in jail, the immediate Pawar family has remained untouched, suggesting a sweet-heart deal with the powers-that-be. But the Pawar punch, while temporarily effective, is unlikely to be the last missile from either side. Alienating Ajit, who has been in charge of the organisation for years, can have serious consequences, even harming Sule’s prospects in her Baramati constituency. Pawar’s message to his party people is to stay together till the Assembly election when the MVA will be back in the saddle. But can Ajit and Praful, both threatened by serious corruption charges, afford the luxury of waiting?
Bending backwards
There is a blame game afoot in the Congress as to who was responsible for inserting in the party’s Kannada manifesto the demand for a ban on the Bajrang Dal and comparing it to the proscribed Popular Front of India (PFI). Especially since the English manifesto does not mention any ban. Veerappa Moily felt state president D K Shivkumar should be asked the question, while some claimed that Randeep Surjewala had given his approval. In Madhya Pradesh, party chief Kamal Nath is bending over backwards to establish his credentials as a Hanuman bhakt. Priyanka Gandhi even began the MP campaign with a Narmada puja holding aloft Lord Hanuman’s mace.
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Another perspective
A recent meeting between former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and Amit Shah did not go well. Shah is believed to have said that it was a mistake for Raje to think in terms of her people and other party persons while deciding Assembly candidates, and that the BJP had given Raje respect and positions in the past and the party believed in giving everyone a chance. When concerns were expressed about the BJP’s prospects, Shah is said to have made it clear that the plans for the state elections would be in conjunction with the preparations for the 2024 polls.