Wisdom dons, BJP dumps DP

At the tail-end of a packed press conference where the BJP showed off its latest recruits Arif Mohammed Khan and Digvijay Singh’s brother Lakshman Singh, party chief Venkaiah Naidu said: ‘‘During the last few days, I have been meeting people. After consulting the state unit, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, we have decided to withdraw the membership given to him (Yadav).’’

And added: ‘‘Yadav also called me up and said, Sir, the party’s image should not suffer a damage because of me.’’ This done, Naidu brought the press conference to an abrupt end by getting up, leaving little room for any embarrassing follow-up questions.

Yadav told The Indian Express later: ‘‘I am very sad to leave the party. But, my politics does not depend upon BJP. I have been in politics before and will remain hereafter.’’ On the other hand, Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish Katara, said: ‘‘My respect for BJP has grown. They have shown that they can uphold the ideals they claim to stand for.’’ Yadav’ son, Vikas Yadav, faces the charge of Nitish’s murder.

Naidu’s announcement came after an hour-long meeting he had with Advani and Mahajan at his residence this morning.

The public reversal of a decision taken by two top BJP functionaries is unprecedented. But the leadership has little choice. To control the image crisis, it had to sacrifice the personal prestige of both Naidu and Mahajan. It will take both a while to recover from this setback to their authority.

What the BJP is trying to pass of as an ‘‘error of judgement’’ is actually a glaring example of how in its recruitment rush, the left hand of the party doesn’t know what the right is doing.

Senior BJP leaders admitted to The Indian Express that the decision to induct Yadav was taken without consultations with the top party leadership and that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishra Advani were ‘‘very annoyed.’’

Quite contrary to what party General Secretary Muktar Abbas Naqvi said on Monday, that it was a ‘‘collective decision’’ of the party.

Advani is understood to have acknowleged before a group of party leaders that Yadav is the sort of politician who ‘‘symbolised’’ the criminalisation of politics. That Yadav would soon be dumped was evident on Sunday when the Prime Minister stated, ‘‘We’re of the view that criminals should not be allowed to enter politics.’’

Now the blame game is on and senior leaders are blaming the constituency-wise ‘‘micro-analysis’’ exercise being conducted by Mahajan and the naivete displayed by Naidu who said he had been told there was no pending criminal case against Yadav. While the Mahajan camp had ‘‘chosen’’ Yadav as the BJP’s answer to Mulayam Singh Yadav in Sambhal, others in the party feel he should have baen allowed to fight as an independent candidate and given outside support by the party.

The first signal that there was something amiss over Yadav’s induction came during the press conference itself at which Yadav and former Minister Satya Pal Malik were presented. Party spokesman and Law Minister Arun Jaitley’s consternation was evident and he refused to go on to the dais till Yadav’s ‘‘presentation’’ ceremony was over.

Jaitley told The Indian Express: The party is alive to the sensitivities and views expressed by its workers, by the media and by all well-meaning people. Therefore the party reconsidered the matter.’’