For a figurehead

The casual attitude of the BJP leaders over the question of choosing a successor to Mr. Kushabhau Thakre brings out the importance, or the lack of it, of the party president in the new situation, writes B. MURALIDHAR REDDY.

THE BJP prided itself as a party with a difference. In the past, its leaders lost no opportunity to ridicule the style of functioning of the Congress(I) leadership particularly in organisational matters. The BJP rank and file laughed at the personality cult and the dynasty factor in the Congress(I). But with the assumption of power at the Centre, the BJP has proved to be no different.

With the BJP at the head of the coalition Government in New Delhi, the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the coterie around him, has emerged as the supreme authority pushing the party and organisation into the background. The term of the current BJP President, Mr. Kushabhau Thakre, is to end in the second week of May and there is no evidence of any enthusiasm or activity for finding a successor. The hard reality is that the party has not been able to rise beyond the established leadership of Mr. Vajpayee, and the Union Home Minister, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani. The casual attitude of the BJP leaders on the question of choosing a successor to Mr. Thakre also brings out the importance, or the lack of it, of the party president in the new situation.

For all its reputation of a disciplined organisation with a definite ideological programme, the BJP has actually very few leaders of national stature to boast of. Barring the two-year period in the early Nineties when Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi was at the helm of affairs, the BJP has alternatively been under the command of either Mr. Vajpayee or Mr. Advani since its birth in 1980. Till it took over the reins of Government in March 1998, the BJP vacillated between the so-called soft life of Mr. Vajpayee and the hard line of Mr. Advani on its Hindutva ideology. It was the hard line of Mr. Advani, reflected in his campaign on the Ram Temple issue and the Rath Yatras across the country, that contributed to the party's spectacular rise.

Yet it was the politics of compromise and coalitions ardently advocated by Mr. Vajpayee, which made it possible for BJP to occupy the seat of power. In the process, the party was compelled to abandon its core issues. Thereby hangs the tale of the BJP subordinating its interests to the compulsions of coalition politics. Perhaps never in the past, be it in the last two decades or in its previous incarnation as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, was the party chief so ineffective as Mr. Thakre . But no one in the BJP, certainly not the Prime Minister, is complaining.

It is ironic that while Mr. Thakre's stint as party chief coincided with the BJP heading the ruling combine at the Centre, he has little to show as his contribution. He was nowhere in the picture as the party went about exploring new alliance partners in State after State in its bid to cobble together a majority. Interests of State units became secondary and that of the Prime Minister primary. In several States, the party units were forced to accept the compromise formula and learn to co-exist with regional parties.

An ineffectual party chief suits Mr. Vajpayee very well. With a delicate job of balancing the conflicting interests of coalition partners on hand, the Prime Minister can ill-afford to have a pro-active BJP president. So a figurehead party chief like Mr. Thakre has proved to be the best bet for the Prime Minister. The BJP, ever since Mr. Vajpayee has been pitchforked to the top job has fallen back on the time-tested theory of the Congress(I). There cannot be two centres of power.

The condescending attitude of Mr. Vajpayee towards the party was evident at the function in the national capital to celebrate its 20th foundation day. He did not miss the opportunity to sermon the party bosses on how there was no contradiction between the compulsions of coalition politics and the quest of the BJP for growth. Far from any murmurs there was actually applause from the gathering which earlier did not hide its impatience with Mr. Thakre.

There is no doubt that it is Mr. Vajpayee alone who will play a key role in choosing the new BJP chief. The successor to Mr. Thakre will have to be his clone though not necessarily in all respects. The bottomline is that the new president will have to subserve the interests of the party to that of the Prime Minister and the compulsions which guide Mr. Vajpayee in running the Government.

There has never been an election in the BJP for the post of party president and the tradition will continue this time too. All indications are that the senior vice-President of the party, Mr. Jana Krishnamurthy, will emerge as a successor to Mr. Thakre.

Anointment of the mild-mannered and scholarly Mr. Krishnamurthy as the new chief will not lead to any dramatic changes in the equations within the party or between the Prime Minister and the organisation. Mr. Krishnamurthy would be the first BJP leader from the south to occupy the top job and it is good news for the BJP from the propaganda point of view as it is desperately trying to gain a foothold south of the Vindhyas.

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