The controversy stirred by Ms Sushma Swaraj’s revelations about the induction of the controversial Bellary brothers into the B.S. Yeddyurappa government in Karnataka has put the top BJP leadership in the dock. This has enthused the Congress party, which on Saturday stepped up its attack on the saffron party over Ms Swaraj washing her
hands off the induction, saying, “the Neros of the BJP fiddle in Delhi” while Karnataka burns. The Congress also sees the outbreak of “civil war” in the BJP, a party once proud of its “chal, charitra and chehara”.
“Swaraj’s assertions once again underscore the fundamental reality of BJP — that money talks and Yeddyurappa and Reddy walk. While Karnataka burns with corruption, the Neros of BJP fiddle in Delhi. It does not require any imagination to find out from where the fiddle came. It definitely came from Bangalore,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.
He added, “There was a PM-in-waiting in the BJP who is continuing in the waiting list since 2004, and the waiting list may get longer by 2014.” He was responding to a question on whether the Congress sees the tussle in the BJP as an attempt by its leaders to become the “face” of the party in the next polls.
“The BJP has not understood a simple fact: that the train of power is now not going to halt at its station,” he said, taking a dig at the main Opposition whose national executive is scheduled to start this week in Lucknow.
He wondered about the power struggle in the BJP at a time when it has just five seats of 765 contested in the Assembly elections in five states. “The BJP should think whether it is really the Opposition party or only a symbolic Opposition, and whether it is truly a national party or merely a regional one,” Mr Tewari said.
Mr Tewari also dismissed former BJP chief Rajnath Singh’s defence, saying, “The question is not who opposed Yeddyurappa and Reddy. The question is why at all they were appointed.”
Another senior Congress leader, Dr Shakeel Ahmed, said he saw the outbreak of “civil war” in the BJP following Ms Swaraj’s remarks that appeared to blame Mr Arun Jaitley and others for the rise of Karnataka mining barons and Cabinet ministers the Reddy brothers.
“A civil war has begun in the BJP. This is no difference of policy and programme. They are fighting for themselves and it is their internal power struggle,” Dr Ahmed told reporters. He suggested that the power struggle stems from the desires of rival BJP leaders to become the party’s candidate for PM in the next Lok Sabha elections.
AICC leader in charge of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir Mohan Prakash said the BJP has appointed such persons as ministers that its entire top leadership now feels insulted at being associated with them.
According to Congress insiders, Ms Swaraj’s revelations have begun the process of disintegration of the D4 (Delhi 4) group in the BJP — Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Arun Jaitley, former BJP chief M. Venkaiah Naidu and MP Ananth Kumar. They are considered part of Team Advani and thus controlling the party and the parliamentary party. While Ms Swaraj and Mr Jaitley are seen within the BJP as prime ministerial aspirants, Mr Ananth Kumar has been desperate to become Karnataka chief minister.
Ms Swaraj’s disclosures may not only weaken the BJP’s anti-corruption plank against the Centre but divide the Opposition’s floor coordination in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, which is expected to begin in the second week of July.