BJP sends stern warning to rebels

If anything concrete came out of the three-day 'chintan-baithak’ (brainstorming session) of the Bharatiya Janata Party at Shimla, it was a stern warning to the rebels and dissidents within to mend their ways or face the consequences as happened to a stalwart like Jaswant Singh.

Rajnath Singh, BJP national chief, told journalists in Shimla at the end of the three-day meet that the party had decided ''rebellion and indiscipline will not be tolerated at any cost.’’ His words only sought to augment the shock waves that had gone across the party by Jaswant Singh’s summary sacking even before the 'baithak’ had begun on Tuesday.

By announcing “Advaniji would continue to be our leader”, Singh’s announcement also sought to send signals to other squabbling leaders who were expecting an immediate race for leadership in the party, in case the party’s prime ministerial candidate in the recent Lok Sabha election now opts out as leader of the opposition there.

Besides Singh and Advani, 21 others, including the general secretaries, Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in the Rajya sabha, Sushma Swaraj, deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, and members of the parliamentary board arttended the meeting. The leaders are supposed to have discussed issues facing the party in a secluded location.

The brainstorming session, however, failed to draft a road-ahead plan for the party, which had been feeling low after its recent defeat in the Lok sabha election. The job has since been entrusted to a group of general secretaries, who, as Singh said, would present the report before the next BJP conclave scheduled in October.

However, Rajnath Singh was evasive about the questions on whether the select 24 leaders of the party had discussed the reasons for party’s defeat at the 'baithak.’ While he said no draft on reasons for the party’s defeat was discussed, the speakers did make an in-depth analysis of the party’s performance in each state. At the same time, he said “thereasons for the party’s defeat could not be shared with the media”.

While the BJP meet has proposed that there be no shift on the party’s Hindutva ideology, the leaders want that this must be propagated in a simple and easy-to-understand manner. Besides, Singh said, the party would expand its base among more sections of people — mainly farmers, the poor, backward and the scheduled tribes, and accommodate more youth in the party. The party has also asked its workers to undertake relief work in the drought- affected areas.