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Expelled BJP leaders contesting Bihar assembly polls remain defiant
The BJP was caught in a big dilemma as the reels headed for the LJP while JD(U) leaders were also uncomfortable with the prospect of suffering losses due to targeting by one NDA partner at the Centre.
Despite the BJP expelling its rebels contesting the Bihar assembly elections on Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) tickets to send a stern message, the rebel candidates remain defiant as they continued their poll campaigns.
Rajendra Singh, the man who grew up with the Rarashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology in the last 37 years, still has his Twitter handle showing him as the vice president of the BJP and former general secretary of the party’s Bihar unit despite joining the LJP.
On Monday he also retweeted LJP chief Chirag Paswan’s tweet thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “all the cooperation” extended for the final journey of his father late Ram Vilas Paswan.
Rajendra Singh’s tweets in the last few days mostly revolve around his journey in the BJP. He had narrowly lost to JD(U’)s Jay Kumar Singh in 2015 when the Grand Alliance (GA) had swept the election. Jay Kumar Singh is again the JD(U) candidate and Rajendra Singh’s presence is certain to affect his prospects, especially with very little time left in the election.
BJP state president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal on Monday evening expelled nine rebel leaders for six years for their anti-party activities.
“All of you are contesting the election against the NDA candidates, which is tarnishing the image of the NDA as well as the BJP. This is against the discipline of the party. Therefore, you are expelled from the party for six years for anti-party activities,” said the letter issued to the leaders.
However, Rajendra Singh remained unfazed. “My ideology does not change. Once an RSS swayamsevak, always a swayamsevak. I am contesting on people’s request and the results will show who is right and who is wrong,” he reiterated. It is exactly what he had told HT soon after joining LJP
Rameshwar Chaurasia, who also joined the LJP after his Nokha assembly seat went to the JD(U), also remained defiant.
“This expulsion is a joke. Who is the state party president to expel me without even serving a show cause. Had they issued me a show cause, I would have replied how I was forced to look for another option due to enormities against me and the game against the party. BJP is in my blood and I will win with a big margin due to people’s support,” he said as he campaigned in his Nokha constituency from 6 am.
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He also hit out at chief minister Nitish Kumar and some people in the Bihar BJP who, he said, were working to damage the party. “My seat has been a traditional seat of the BJP and when it went to JD(U), I was left with no option. JD(U) contesting alone will suffer badly. Shershah Suri changed Sasaram in six years and Nitish Kumar got 15 years, while RJD also got 15 years. People have seen both. The JD(U) candidate is not even visible here. We cannot see BJP suffering at the behest of Nitish Kumar,” he added.
The BJP, which is contesting the election in alliance with the JD(U) and has announced Nitish Kumar as the CM candidate, was caught in a big dilemma as the reels headed for the LJP while JD(U) leaders were also uncomfortable with the prospect of suffering losses due to targeting by one NDA partner at the Centre. It was also affecting BJP’s own image of a disciplined party.
Shaibal Gupta of the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) said there was a common perception that the BJP rebels could not go this far without the tacit understanding. “The BJP has done the right thing by sending the message across, as it was creating a lot of confusion on the ground,” he added.
Political analyst and former head, department of economics, Patna University, NK Choudhary it was just a damage control exercise by the BJP and it would be difficult to change the perception on ground, which had already developed and would be difficult to undo.
”This is the minimum the BJP could do. I have also talked to many people and they all seem to understand that so many rebels from the BJP and all against the JD(U) could not be coincidental. The message has already gone the way it was intended. Whether expulsion will have any impact only the time will tell, but the fact is that perception doesn’t change so fast though they can certainly develop rather quickly,” he added.
Former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies DM Diwakar said the LJP was out to play its role in this election with or without the expulsion of BJP rebels. “Election is a perception battle. How big or small a role the LJP will play will be known only after the election, but on the ground it has been able to add zing to an otherwise one-sided poll,” he added.
Of the nine leaders expelled from the BJP, eight are contesting on LJP tickets while one, Ajay Pratap (Jamui) is contesting on the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) ticket. The BJP rebels in LJP are Rajendra Singh, (contesting from Dinara), Rameshwar Chaurasia (Nokha), Usha Vidyarthi (Paliganj), Ravindra Yadav (Jhajha), Indu Kashyap (Jehanabad), Shweta Singh (Sandesh), Anil Kumar (Patna rural) and Mrinal Shekhar (Amarpur).
The JD(U) has welcomed the expulsions. Its general secretary and MP RCP Sinha said the NDA was united and all the four parties – BJP, JD(U), HAM-S and VIP – are one and any rebel candidate would be dealt with sternly. JD(U) leader and minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said it was a welcome move and would help dispel any confusion in the minds of the people.
A senior BJP leader said that the expulsion of rebels from the BJP was done with a view to sending a stern message for the two other phases of the election, when more BJP leaders denied tickets could jump into the fray from the LJP which is contesting against all JD(U) candidates.
