BJP chief conveys his displeasure over their rivalry which is damaging party’s prospects
New Delhi : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has ticked off Uttarakhand’s three former chief ministers B C Khanduri, B C Koshiyari and Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ for the party losing all three Assembly by-elections in the state.
He summoned them to his office on Monday morning and conveyed his ‘displeasure in no uncertain terms’ for their rivalry damaging the party’s prospects so soon after winning all five Lok Sabha seats in the state.
All three former CMs are now the Lok Sabha members and hence they should have worked for the success of the party candidates in the Assembly elections than resort to petty squabbles and groupism, Shah reportedly told them.
He was particularly angry on Pokhriyal, who had convinced him that retaining Doiwali Assembly seat he vacated after winning the Lok Sabha election was a ‘cakewalk.’ Shah did not take lightly defeat of BJP national secretary Trivendra Singh Rawat in the by-election.
Sources said Shah had special affinity for Rawat since he had assisted him in Uttar Pradesh during the Lok Sabha elections.
They said he was also angry since the by-election defeats jeopardised the BJP plan to oust the minority Congress government in the state. The Congress has become stronger as all three seats were won by it to increase its tally in the 70-member Assembly to 35.
Haryana polls
Amit Shah factored the Uttarakhand results while discussing the party’s strategy in Haryana with senior leaders J P Nadda, Sanjeev Baliyan, Radha Mohan Singh and Santosh Gangwar, whom he had deputed to get a feedback from the poll-bound state.
They have reportedly advised Shah not to go by the state unit’s perceptions and better continue the electoral alliance with the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), a breakaway group of the Congress.
Sources said the BJP may consider offering Bishnoi a compromise formula to ensure he stays with the National Democratic Alliance, but it will be a formula which will largely weigh in favour of the BJP.
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