NEW DELHI, NOV 13: Keeping Kalyan Singh's supporters out of the new government in Lucknow is a clear signal that the party high command is in no mood to placate him. The pro-Vajpayee group in the BJP may want him to quit on his own but Kalyan hasn't shown signs of doing that.By attacking the party leadership for putting the BJP's core issues like contruction of the Ram temple, on the backburner, he is not only trying to endear himself once again to the RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal, his criticism is targeted to generate conflict between the hard core of the party and its moderate wing represented by Vajpayee. His repeated insistence that he would quit only if the PM were to personally request him to do so was his attempt to show that a Brahminical conspiracy had been hatched to turf a poor Lodh out of power.Many had predicted that the challenge to Vajpayee during his second term would come more from within the BJP than from the party's allies. Kalyan Singh has fired the first salvo. He is likely to be a thornin Vajpayee's side in the coming weeks. If he's thrown out of the party, he may become another Sharad Pawar, who dealt a body blow to the Congress, but could not get many seats by himself.At another level, the marching orders to Kalyan Singh could advance the elections in UP which are otherwise due in 2001. No doubt, power and fear of elections are powerful magnets which should keep the ruling-combine MLAs together. Yet, it's also true that the precariously poised structure in Lucknow has been disturbed and anything can give way at any time to bring down the pack of cards.Early elections in UP would be the worst possible scenario for the BJP. It's all set to send six members to the Upper House from UP in the elections to the Rajya Sabha due in April 2000. It would also not want to do anything which might hurt its prospects in the impending elections in Bihar. As it is, BJP leader Sushil Mody has admitted that action against Kalyan could have an adverse impact in Bihar.In the given situation, theparty runs the risk of losing the State and this would have its ramifications in Delhi. It may not alter the arithmetic in the Lok Sabha but could upset the fine balance between the BJP and its allies. Capturing the country's largest state had made the saffron party a player in Delhi. Therefore, the BJP will do its utmost to avoid a situation which hastens Assembly polls in UP.
