Loyalists versus new imports debate heats up in Maharashtra BJP unit

Cracks in the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surfaced on Saturday, with a senior leader criticising the party’s “mega recruitment drive” of

Cracks in the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surfaced on Saturday, with a senior leader criticising the party’s “mega recruitment drive” of getting leaders from other parties into the fold before the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

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State BJP president Chandrakant Patil, in a video clip from a meeting of BJP workers at Pimpri Chinchwad on Friday, is heard saying that the “party culture of standing by loyalists was diluted due to the influx of leaders from other parties”. “There is a need to inculcate confidence among workers that the party values loyalty and merit,” Patil says in the video, which has since gone viral.

Senior party leader and former finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, too, said on Saturday that “loyalists should not be humiliated” and the “party should not become private property of any anybody”. He, however, said BJP did benefit from the influx of leaders from other parties before the election.

Patil, however, retracted his statement on Saturday in a hastily called press conference, where he said that his remarks were distorted by the media and in fact, “the party benefited from the performance of leaders inducted from other parties”. “The statement was twisted by the media… We are, in fact, proud of their induction and we have benefitted from them in the elections. I said that the leaders that have come from other parties are an integral part of the party and none of them have left the party. The decision of bringing leaders from other parties was a collective decision taken unanimously by the party’s core committee,” he clarified.

But party leaders, who did not wish to be named, said what Patil said was the sentiment among a sizeable section of BJP leaders and workers in Maharashtra.

BJP, which had 122 seats in the Assembly, could win only 105 seats in last year’s Assembly elections. The fall in number of the party’s seats was the primary reason why Shiv Sena tried to bargain for chief ministership and ultimately walked out of the alliance to form government with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress in Maharashtra.

A significant section of BJP leaders in the state believe BJP’s decision to admit several Congress and NCP leaders into its fold was a reason the perception of the party changed among voters and it reflected in the election results.

“The discontent was strongly expressed on various forums by loyalists. Denying tickets to party’s senior leaders like Vinod Tawde, Eknath Khadse, Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Prakash Mehta cost us in the Assembly polls. Similarly, various other aspirants were denied tickets to favour who had been imported from other parties,” said a senior BJP leader, on condition of anonymity.

Patil and Mungantiwar’s remarks are also seen as a veiled attack on former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who called the shots in Maharashtra BJP. Fadnavis was strongly in favour of importing leaders from other parties if it was benefiting BJP. Within the party, Patil and Mungantiwar are seem as Fadnavis’ competitors.

The party has in the recent past also witnessed other voices of dissent. Former revenue minister and senior party leader Eknath Khadse had blamed Fadnavis for BJP’s denial of ticket to him. Former cabinet minister and party’s OBC face Pankaja Munde had resigned from the core committee and announced to hold state-wide campaign under the banner of an apolitical organisation she heads. Former ministers Prakash Mehta and Ram Shinde, too, had expressed their discontent against the leadership for either being denied tickets to contest the poll or their defeat in the elections.

“There is resentment within BJP and the division among the leaders after the party lost its power in the state. Senior leaders have differences among themselves on various issues, including the induction of the leaders from other parties. The differences within the leadership keep widening when the party is not in power. The differences within Maharashtra BJP may keep on widening if the three party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government lasts its term,” said political analyst Prakash Bal.