New Delhi

MLA’s death brings into focus indiscipline in BJP DELhi assembly elections 2008

NEW DELHI: The death of senior BJP leader and three-time MLA Puran Chand Yogi has brought into focus the growing incidence of indiscipline in the party and the manner in which office-bearers openly flout guidelines and work against the interests of the candidates during elections.

The circumstances leading to Mr. Yogi’s death also indicate that the BJP’s path to forming a Government in Delhi was not a smooth one.

All through Sunday, the BJP party circles were agog with talk of what precipitated a situation in which Mr. Yogi was compelled to end his life.

A member of the Delhi Assembly since 1993, he was yet to lose an election and had been given another chance by the party to contest from Rajendra Nagar, the seat he had represented the past 15 years.

But while to some Mr. Yogi appeared invincible because of the amount of work he used to do for the constituency, to many others he was a major hurdle in their rise on the political ladder.

Party sources said his candidature was opposed among others by an area councillor Mool Chand Chawla and the district president Ravinder Gupta.

In fact, some insist that not only were many of these leaders working against Mr. Yogi, on Saturday they had even told the septuagenarian leader that they would not let him win. Considering Mr. Yogi had won by a margin of less than 1,000 votes in 2003, this was a definite shock for him.

When contacted Mr. Chawla said he was pained by the death of Mr. Yogi. While admitting that he had opposed his candidature, he said such things happen in politics.

However, he denied working against Mr. Yogi.

But party sources said such dissidence was nothing new. “Even three-time Badli MLA Jai Bhagwan Agarwal, who is now contesting from Rohini, is facing similar resistance from all the four mandals in his area. In fact, there was also an ugly incident a few months ago in which Mr. Agarwal was physically targeted by his party workers in the area. And such acts in the BJP are now not limited to MLAs alone. Even Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan was heckled and pushed by party workers on the day the first meeting of the Election Committee for the Assembly elections took place. Though Dr. Vardhan took the assault bravely and warned that such protest had no place in a democracy and would harm the interest of the ticket aspirants, Mr. Yogi it appears took the disparaging remarks passed on him straight to his heart.

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