BHOPAL: Differences among some top-rung BJP leaders seem to have been sunk at the training camp held for party legislators. It is, however, not known whether they have learnt anything at the camp. Eleven months have passed since the BJP returned to power in the state, but soreness among a few party leaders has continued. The BJP’s state unit president, VD Sharma, has tried his best to quell the resentment by bringing all the leaders to the training camp.
For the first time since the corona pandemic, the BJP’s top-rung leaders, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Thawarchand Gehlot, Prahlad Patel, the party’s national general secretary, Kailash Vijayvargiya, RS member Jyotiraditya Scindia, in-charge of the party Muralidhar Rao and national co-organisational general secretary Shivprakash came together on one platform.
These leaders could not interact after the BJP’s return to power in the state. As there was no communication, bitterness grew among them. As a result of that, the BJP’s central leadership had to intervene to deploy all the leaders for campaigning during the by-elections. It was not easy to take any decision on issues related to Scindia after his defection from the Congress to the BJP.
The government took a lot of time to distribute portfolios among the ministers. The districts are yet to be distributed among them. Scindia is reportedly angry as his supporters have not been inducted into the party organisation and his loyal ministers who lost elections have not been appointed to any corporation. After Scindia’s defection to the BJP, Tomar’s stature as top leader in the Chambal region has ended. At the local level, these leaders have never been on good terms. So, collision among their supporters is intensifying.
The party’s in-charge for West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya, may again be active in the state after the Assembly elections in Bengal. Vijayvargiya is also not happy, because his supporter and legislator, Ramesh Mandola, has not been given a ministerial berth. The brother of Patel, Jalam Singh Patel, is also out of the ministry. All these leaders were angry at the government or at the party organisation, but their resentment seems to have lessened at the camp. Many issues related to the state were discussed at the camp. Its results will be seen in the coming days.
