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Party members grew from 12,000 to 90,000 during my stint, says outgoing Chandigarh BJP chief Sanjay Tandon
The man who has the distinction of being the longest serving party president for ten years, seeing three consecutive terms since 2010, has managed to keep his flock together without much ado.
He sailed through it all: Accusations of encouraging groupism within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), disappointing failed bids to secure a ticket as party Lok Sabha nominee and rivalry with member of Parliament Kirron Kher notwithstanding, to end his stint as the Chandigarh BJP chief on January 17 with an unblemished record. The man who has the distinction of being the longest serving party president for ten years, seeing three consecutive terms since 2010, also managed to keep his flock together without much ado.
At 56, however, Tandon might have to rethink his role in the party and pitch for a bigger, possibly even national role.
INDEBTED TO HIS FATHER’S LEGACY
Tandon entered politics in the footsteps of his father Balramji Das Tandon, one of the tallest leaders from the region and the founding member of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS) and the BJP. Balramji also served as the Chhattisgarh governor, Punjab deputy chief minister, six-time MLA, and as the president of Punjab BJP and BJS.
“A hardworking man and an able organiser, Tandon’s climb through the BJP’s ranks should be seen in the background of his father’s prominent status in the party and region. For instance, his relationship with BJP’s national leadership is embedded in his father’s legacy,” says a close friend of the outgoing city BJP chief, who does not wish to be named.
After failing to secure a strong political base in his father’s erstwhile assembly constituency of Rajpura in Punjab, Tandon had to shift his base to Chandigarh. First he was made state unit’s general secretary and, a few years later, in 2010, promoted as unit president.
DESTROYING THE CONGRESS BASTION
His three consecutive terms as president saw the BJP making inroads into the Congress bastion, ending its 15-year losing streak and winning two successive Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019.
It also won a thumping majority in the 2016 MC elections.
“He infused new life into the party. He was able to bring everybody together for making the party stronger, which ultimately showed in the election results,” says Arun Sood, the new Chandigarh BJP president and Tandon loyalist.
Critics, however, say the BJP’s victory had nothing to do with Tandon. “The Congress was already in the decline in the city after dominating it for more than 15 years. Former MP and senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal was embroiled in the Railgate controversy and there was a strong anti-incumbency wave against it. The most crucial factor in the BJP’s win in the city was coupled with the rise of Narendra Modi in national politics,” said a former senior BJP leader requesting anonymity.
Dismissive of his critics and taking credit for BJP’s resurgence in the city, Tandon contends, “I strengthened the party’s organisational structure and made sure that the party was connected with all sections of the society – professional, religious, and community organizations, or people from the country’s different regions settled in the city. In the last ten years, party members increased from 12,000 to 90,000, and in the Lok Sabha elections the party got more than 50% of polled votes for the first time. I brought corporate style working to Kamalam (the BJP city headquarters).”
No stranger to controversy, however, Tandon’s fraught relationship with former MP Satya Pal Jain and current MP Kirron Kher is well known. If he was such a unifier, why was the party affected by groupism? his detractors ask. “After he lost twice to Kher in the race for nominations for the party’s city Lok Sabha ticket, his supporters unabashedly indulged in anti-MP activities. Simmering conflict within the party came to the fore when his loyalist publicly opposed Jain’s protégé Davesh Moudgil’s candidature as the MC mayor,” says a former close aide of Tandon who didn’t want to be named.
‘CAN’T TAKE EVERYONE ON BOARD’
Accepting that he could not take everyone on board, Tandon stresses, “In politics there are always competing groups. I have always supported even those who vilified me as they were helpful in strengthening the party.”
Even after the party denied him Lok Sabha tickets twice, Tandon didn’t publicly oppose his party’s decision or sulk, which critics acknowledge as Tandon’s strength. People close to him say though he lost out to Kher in the race for the Lok Sabha the stage is being set for him for a bigger national role in the party.
A successful businessman running six call centres with more than 6,000 employees, Tandon wears many hats. The managing partner of a chartered accounting firm, S Tandon & Associates, he is also president of the UT Cricket Association and manages the Balramji Das Tandon Charitable Foundation that he created in his father’s memory.
On his political future, says, “My father always taught me that party is above all personal aspirations. It is our duty to strengthen the party and not make demands on it. Whatever duty is given to me by the party I will serve it with sincerity and 100% dedication.”
