Dissidence to the fore in Rajasthan BJP

Jaipur, Sep 6 (UNI) Dissidence within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan seems to have reached a flash point with the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and her detractors openly challenging each other for a show down.

The Chief Minister, ostensibly perturbed over the recent corruption charges against her, levelled by party's national Vice president and Dalit leader Kailash Meghwal in New Delhi, has ''retaliated'' by inducting a former Janata Dal (U) leader Gopal Pacherwal, into the party.

The inclusion of Pacherwal, a two time MLA and former MP from Tonk (reserved) constituency, now represented by Meghwal, is being seen as a challenge to the latter's towering influence as a Dalit leader of the party.

Ms Raje, on the occasion of admitting Pacherwal into the party fold, announced ''A woman may wear bangles but it is a mistake to construe it as a sign of weakness.'' The visit by former Union minister and party stalwart Jaswant Singh to the state last Saturday proved a shot in the arm for the dissidents, specially so when he commented: ''Power has gone to some leaders' heads and they have grown arrogant.'' Party insiders say Mr Singh shares a somewhat ''uneasy'' relationship with Ms Raje.

Mr Singh's wife Sheetal Kanwar had filed a case in a Jodhpur court against MLA Surya Kanta Vyas and others for publication of a poster depicting Raje as Goddess Durga.

The dissidents, led by Education Minister Ghan Shyam Tiwari, made their proximity to the former External Affairs Minister known by organising a felicitation function for him. They claimed that it was for his ''positive contribution'' to the unveiling of a statue of Maharana Pratap, the legendary Mewar ruler, in Parliament House.

Besides Mr Tiwari, senior leaders such as Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, former state BJP president Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, Party Chief Whip Mahaveer Prasad Jain, Satish Punia and Onkar Singh Lekhawant attended the function.

Indirectly aiming at her detractors, Ms Raje, at a function in Dholpur last Saturday, said, ''Give the strength of your moustache; and with my bangles we are more than enough to silence those who come in the way of developing Rajasthan into a frontline state.'' The induction of Mr Pacherwal has not gone down well with various senior party leaders. Mr Jain fired the first salvo by describing Pacherwal as a ''tainted'' leader.

The Dalit leader had been chargesheeted along with Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitley in the Tehelka expose case. ''Even the former party president Bangaru Laxman was not allowed to return to the party fold, then how can Ms Raje induct a 'tainted and rejected' leader,'' he questioned.

Former state general secretary and youth leader Satish Punia also joined the issue with Jain demanding, ''the leadership must take the organisation into confidence before the entry and exit of any leader into and from the party.'' With the voices of dissent increasingly getting belligerent, Ms Raje rushed to Delhi yesterday to apprise the central party leadership of the developments.

''With the prospect of a mid-term election round the corner, the central party leadership is worried over the developments in Rajasthan,'' a highly-placed party source said.

UNI