Joshi returns as BJP general secretary

Sanjay Joshi, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary (organisation), was today reinstated to his old post. Joshi had resigned from the post four months ago because of a sex scandal.

According to BJP chief Rajnath Singh, the fact that the state forensic laboratory in AP said the CD, which allegedly featured Joshi in a compromising position, had been tampered with amounted to a clean chit to Joshi.

Joshi, in a written statement, thanked the BJP and the RSS for first reinstating him in the RSS as a pracharak and the BJP for appointing him to the post of general secretary. Joshi's return, speculated upon for a long time, however, was not without its share of drama, with a significant section of the party resenting that he had been "forgiven" too quickly.

"Joshi is now the only one in the party who is an accredited good character, with a certificate from the MP director-general of police," said one office-bearer sarcastically. Another BJP general secretary was philosophical. "When there is an inconclusiveness in investigation like this, you cannot very well hang the man," he said.

Joshi's return was almost certain since Rajnath Singh had made no bones about the fact that Joshi would be his man in the party. Surrounded by the second generation leaders in the party, and a hostile LK Advani, Rajnath Singh felt that a Sangh-backed general secretary would run his and the Sangh's agenda in the party.

In fact, when Rajnath Singh addressed the BJP national council after taking over as the party chief, Joshi was the surprise guest at the address. The post of general secretary was also kept vacant for four months.

"Thus, the moment the MP police submitted the report of the forensic laboratory, Rajnath Singh spoke to RSS Sanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and things were put into motion," said a source close to Singh.

Joshi earned many enemies during his stint with the BJP. He was the man deputed by the RSS to ask Advani for his resignation, and earned the anger of Uma Bharati while she was expelled from the party the first time round. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi too is counted among his detractors.

Party insiders predict that Joshi's appointment would bring out the hidden tensions in the party.

"You have Rajnath Singh and Joshi working on a Rajnath-Sangh agenda, then the second rung of leaders who being contemporaries of Rajnath Singh do not want to yield any quarter to him, and also Advani, who wants to regain the space that he has lost," said a senior BJP office-bearer.

"Now the real battle for the mantle will begin, since the camps are clearly delineated," he said.