Balasankar’s anger may affect BJP’s prospects

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) thinker R. Balasankar’s dissatisfaction with the state leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his suspicion that the party has a big dispute with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). [CPI(M)] It is likely to affect the BJP’s prospects in the assembly elections.

In his defense, the party chief K. Surendran and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V.V. The leadership of the state BJP, including Muralitharan, has clarified that their statement could have the effect of denial of Chengannur seat. However, Mr. Balasankar’s base has provided a plethora of arms to the Congress party, which often alleges that the BJP and the CPI-M have struck a secret deal in the elections. Congress leaders have taken this as a campaign issue where the party is in direct fight with the CPI-M in the elections. But the Left Democratic Front has dismissed the allegation as baseless.

For the state unit of the BJP, its leadership fears that the charge will likely lead to a situation where the party will lose a major chunk of Hindu votes to the Congress in the central Travancore districts, especially those from the Nair community.

Part of parle

In fact, it was Mr. Balashankar, who was trying to facilitate Parle between the leadership of the RSS and the Nair Service Society, which has been largely successful. He was also involved in dialogues with the conservative faction as part of the BJP’s months-long bid to engage with the Christian Church.

One result of Mr. Balasankar’s statement is that the BJP’s machinery will now have to use many resources to win more than 42,000 votes for the party in Chengannur in the 2016 assembly elections. The RSS leadership, already in a damage-control mode, may have to come up with a counter strategy to prevent the flow of votes of BJP sympathizers towards the Congress-led coalition.

A section of the RSS leadership believes that the continuation of the Pinarayi Vijayan government will pave the way for the BJP to move ahead in the state on the assumption that many Congress leaders will leave the party after the assembly elections.

Central leadership

Meanwhile, the central leadership of the BJP has vowed to see Mr. Balasankar’s explosive statement that the state unit acts like a mafia. Incidentally, he was also the frontrunner for the post of BJP state president twice. Now it has to introspect what the faction-ruled party has suffered in the state all these years – was it run by an inexperienced young generation without political maturity and guidance. However, what confuses the central leadership is that the team which the party believes to divide the two factions between its leaders, has winnable seats.