BJP's blues

By M H Ahssan

The exit of Kalyan Singh from the party for the second time seems to leave the BJP leaders rather indifferent. It looks as though that the man who was once the face of the party in Uttar Pradesh is totally dispensable. Is he? The party feels so. So there has been no attempt to either mollify him or dissuade him.

The BJP is right now a small player in the big state of the Hindi heartland; it has not reinvented itself and shows no inclination to do so either. There is no Gen Next waiting to take over. It is for this reason that the apathy of the party top brass towards the man who can claim to have grassroots base in the state comes as a surprise.

The provocation for the exit of the former chief minister is typically feudal. He wanted his seat of Bulandshahr to be left to be decided by him, and opposed tooth and nail its allotment to Ashok Pradhan, who he says worked against the party in the assembly elections last year. The party leaders refused to oblige.

Kalyan Singh has said that he was not going to float another party as he did in 1999 when he left the BJP the first time. (He rejoined in 2004 in the run up to the Lok Sabha election.)

He is in talks with Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav, but there is nothing substantial yet to show for it.

It would however set off speculation as to whether the fragmented backward caste segments as represented by Mulayam Singh Yadav and Kalyan Singh can join forces to challenge the rising political fortunes of Mayawati and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Will he damage poll fortunes of the BJP in UP? It is unlikely. Kalyan Singh's presence did not help the BJP much in the 2004 election.He is in many ways a superannuated politician, a spent force much in the manner of another disgruntled and rebel BJP leader, former vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. But the BJP has not yet found in UP a leader like it did in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.

Not many tears will be shed for the plight of Kalyan Singh because he has outlived his moment of importance. But that does not leave the BJP in a happy position.

In many ways, the party remains in the shadows like its former mascot. What remains is mutual recriminations --bitter, futile.