Naveen Patnaik’s “betrayal” has left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decidedly shaken and stirred — and a little more accommodative of the demands alliance partners.
On Monday, the party capitulated in Maharashtra to hand over two of the three seats that the Shiv Sena was demanding. Along side, it also appointed controversial businessman Sudhanshu Mittal its pointman in the North- East apparently at the behest of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).
The national party had been resisting both these demands for a considerable time — but yielded a day after the party’s core committee met to discuss the fallout of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief Patnaik’s walkout from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
In Maharashtra, the BJP finally handed over Yavatmal- Washim, a seat created out of two former constituencies, and Mumbai South, also an amalgamation of the old Mumbai South and parts of the old Mumbai South- Central, to the Sena.
Though the BJP is terribly sore over Sena’s high- handedness and has even been hitting back in small doses, does not want to lose another ally particularly one as crucial as the Sena.
And the Sena knows it.
“The BJP cannot afford to lose more partners if it is to give a tough fight to the Congress- led United Progressive Alliance. Its Orissa loss affected its status in seat- sharing talks with us,” said a Sena leader.
The BJP’s state unit president Nitin Gadkari’s newly acquired combative mood is already a thing of the past.
After suffering Sena’s autocratic behaviour for some time, the BJP had started taking on its ally – only to step back resignedly on Monday.
But the national party continues to covet Kalyan, carved out of the old Thane seat. “Kalyan and neighbouring Dombivli are our strongholds. Until 1996, we had a sitting MP from Thane in Ram Kapse. We gave up the seat for Sena,” said a BJP leader.
The Sena is equally adamant.
“Thane has a sitting Sena MP. Parts of this constituency have now been tucked in Kalyan. Why should we lose out on a votebank,” demanded a Sena leader. Emboldened by the Orissa episode, the Sena is also believed to be attempting to renegotiate seats already in the BJP kitty — such as Bhiwandi, which has a large Muslim population, and Jalgaon.
Sena’s key negotiator Subhash Desai said the alliance would announce a poll pact in a couple of days. “There are other issues apart from seat- sharing that are being sorted out,” he said.
One of these issues is the fact that the Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) has yet not declared its poll pact with the Congress. “Until we are 100 per cent sure there is no room to negotiate with the NCP, we see no reason to hurry up an announcement. We would prefer to wait and watch,” said another Sena leader.
In New Delhi, BJP president Rajnath Singh announced Mittal would negotiate with parties in the North-East on the BJP’s behalf. This is the second time Rajnath has pitched for Mittal, whose family business is to rent tents in Delhi. He and senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu had tried to get Mittal into the Rajya Sabha earlier too, but the proposal fell under stiff opposition from general secretary Arun Jaitley.
Jaitley, who is now in charge of BJP’s election strategy and management, has conveyed his displeasure to the party president, sources said.
Mittal had been negotiating with the AGP since 2006 at the late party leader Pramod Mahajan’s behest. Even after Mahajan was shot dead by his brother, Mittal continued his association with the AGP and other over and underground groups in the North-East, including the ULFA, in the hope of securing a Rajya Sabha seat.
The BJP’s formal alliance and seat- sharing with the AGP was firmed up last week, with Mittal being the unofficial chief negotiator.
There was a proposal to formalise Mittal’s position during the BJP’s strategy session in Nagpur in February. But L. K. Advani, the party’s prime ministerial candidate, did not agree.
But after the party’s breakup with the BJD, Mittal apparently used his clout with the AGP to establish his position in the BJP. AGP leaders reportedly conveyed to the BJP that they were facing flak from their cadre for having yielded too many seats to the BJP at the behest of Mittal, who was virtually a nonentity.
The fear of upsetting the AGP was then used to persuade Advani to agree to let Mittal be firmly ensconced in the BJP set- up.
The dread of losing more allies that is creeping over the BJP is also likely to embolden allies like the JD(U). JD(U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has already been driving a hard bargain. Nitish has proposed to change the existing seat- sharing formula in Bihar, which gives 24 seats to the JD(U) and 16 to the BJP. He wants to add two more seats to the JD(U) kitty.
The BJP’s state unit is fuming with the suggestion, but the party has little option but to deal with it without upsetting its crucial ally.
Irritants such as Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who have been talking against Nitish’s attempts to marginalise the BJP in Bihar, are being told to pipe down till the elections.
Indeed, the JD(U) has also demanded specific seats in Uttar Pradesh, such as Meerut.