Once beaten, BJP won’t try Joshi again

Tickets to the Rajya Sabha have been a familiar route for defeated BJP leaders, but the party leadership can change tack anytime and former ...

Tickets to the Rajya Sabha have been a familiar route for defeated BJP leaders, but the party leadership can change tack anytime and former HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi is learning this the hard way.

Though the newly-constituted Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party is yet to take a firm decision on the issue, those keen on stalling Joshi’s entry to the Rajya Sabha have mooted a new norm: No immediate Rajya Sabha ticket for a person rejected by the people’s verdict. Joshi lost the Allahabad seat in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

Party president M. Venkaiah Naidu has convened a meeting of the CEC at his residence tomorrow to discuss the names for the Rajya Sabha tickets. The party, given its strength in various state Assemblies, is expected to get at least 16 candidates elected to the Upper House. And Joshi’s name figures among the dozen candidates suggested by the UP unit for two Rajya Sabha tickets from the state.

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Sources disclosed that the RSS is in favour of the proposed norm. However, considering the Congress-Left attacks on the BJP over the saffronisation of school syllabi, the Sangh feels Joshi’s presence is needed to defend the party in Parliament.

There have been numerous examples of senior party leaders being fielded in the Rajya Sabha polls after their defeat, and two of those who have benefited from this are Jaswant Singh and Pramod Mahajan. But then, the party leadership can choose to turn a new leaf anytime, and it can start with Joshi.

The former HRD minister, who has a penchant for fishing in troubled waters, has missed no opportunity to strike at Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani or party president Venkaiah Naidu. Soon after former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee talked of a successor in the party, Joshi publicly announced there was no number two in the party. This was preceded by the Vikas Purush-Lauh Purush controversy.

Linked to Joshi’s fate is that of former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha, who lost from Hazaribagh. Sinha may stand a chance of getting a nomination only if Joshi does.

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The norm, if enforced, would take a heavy toll. As many as 33 BJP ministers lost the polls, and heavyweights who figure among them, apart from Joshi and Sinha, include Ram Naik, Jagmohan, Karia Munda, Sahib Singh Verma, C.P. Thakur, Shahnawaz Hussain, Bandaru Dattatreya, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Prahlad Patel, Swami Chinmayanand and I.D. Swami.

While these leaders will keep their fingers crossed for the Rajya Sabha berths, many others like Naidu, Jaswant Singh and Mahajan are likely to get fresh terms in the Rajya Sabha without much trouble.