Dissidence rife in Bihar’s ruling BJP since new state chief Mangal Pandey took over in January came out into the open on Saturday, presenting an unenviable shape of the state party unit in sharp contrast with its ruling ally JD(U), which put up a united face for its rally in Delhi.
About a dozen prominent senior BJP leaders boycotted the party’s state executive committee meeting in Patna, inaugurated by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, making it clear that efforts to quell old factionalism had failed. Even Jaitley himself was shocked to note that three major Cabinet ministers, four MPs, three former state party chiefs and over a dozen MLAs had skipped the crucial meeting’s first day.
Prominent among the senior leaders absent were former state BJP chief C.P. Thakur, former chairman of the Legislative Council Tarakant Jha, deputy Speaker Amrendra Pratap Singh, animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh, health minister Ashwini Choubey and PHED minister Chandra Mohan Rai. BJP MPs who stayed away were Kirti Azad, Uday Singh, Rama Devi and Hukumdev Narayan Yadav.
The executive committee meeting, the first after Mr Pandey took over, aimed at discussing strategy to streamline the party organisation for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The dissident leaders have been sorely complaining against the way the BJP’s state working committee was formed by Mr Pandey, a protégé of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, allegedly without consulting senior leaders.