Bickering BJP puts spoke in wheel of UP Govt expansion

Friday, May 2 1997

Bickering BJP puts spoke in wheel of UP Govt expansion

Amit Sharma

LUCKNOW, May 1: The expansion of the Mayawati Ministry, scheduled for the first week of May, has been put off, as its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is finding it difficult to name its candidates.

Rather than risk fuelling resentment among its rank and file, the party top brass has asked the Chief Minister to postpone the expansion.

A number of senior BJP leaders have reportedly put up claims for Ministerial berths. Considering their stature, the BJP leadership can ill-afford to antagonise any of them or their supporters. ``No expansion can contain resentment as we cannot adjust everyone in the Ministry,'' concedes a BJP leader.

According to sources, over two dozen senior BJP Legislators are urging the party leadership to induct them into the Ministry. Notable among these are former Ministers Surjeet Singh Dang, Prem Lata Katiyar, Bal Chand Mishra, Surya Pratap Sahi and Sudhir Kumar Balian.

The last Cabinet expansion on March 27 had also left a lot of heavy hearts in the BJP camp, as many party stalwarts had been left out at that time at the expense of relative newcomers to politics. Prabha Dwivedi, wife of slain BJP leader Brahm Dutt Dwivedi, and Devendra Singh, alias Bholey, were among those who found place despite having just entered the political arena.

Enraged at the exclusion of their mentors, hundreds of BJP workers had organised protests at the party office and even sat on dharna on March 27. The BJP had managed to placate them somewhat by assuring that there would be another expansion soon to accommodate their respective leaders.

While that is proving nettlesome enough, there is another problem looming for the party. Governor Romesh Bhandari has made it amply clear that he would not approve those candidates nominated for the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council who had lost the last Assembly elections. This rules out senior BJP leaders like Rajendra Gupta, who the party had been hoping to get into the State's Vidhan Parishad.

There are 12 vacant seats in the House at the moment, for which nominations are due later this month. While the BJP will nominate members to seven of the seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party would put up candidates in five.