Core group set up to guide BJP ministers on crucial issues

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 24

Taking a lesson from the “blunder” committed by BJP ministers by clearing the “highly controversial and pro-separatist” Transfer of Property Bill in the Cabinet meeting, party leadership has unofficially set up a core group to guide party’s nominees in the government on all crucial issues. This core group comprises some senior leaders of the various off-shoots of the “sangh parivar.”

Highly placed sources said BJP leadership had admitted that there was a need to guide “inefficient” and “ill-informed” party ministers who were in a desperate need of guidance on all important issues because they (party ministers) were not competent enough to do important legislature work on their own.

The sources said the core group comprised BJP’s national general secretaries Ram Lal and Ram Madhav, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, BJP state president Sat Sharma, state general secretary (organisation) Ashok Koul, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders including ‘shetriya prachark’ (North Zone head) Prem Kumar, ‘akhil bharatiya sah parchar pramukh’ Arun Kumar, ‘prant prachark’ Ramesh Pappa, ‘sangh chalak Brig Suchet Singh and ‘prant karvawah’ Parshotam Dedechi. The decision to form this core group was taken in the meeting, which was held at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister on July 22. This core group will meet once in every two months to review functioning of the government and also to go through the decisions taken by the coalition in that period.

The sources said the BJP ministers have been suggested to thoroughly go through the agenda circulated to them before going to Cabinet meetings in future.

As the high command had taken a very serious note of the passing of the Transfer of Property Bill, the BJP ministers were putting onus on each other for this “mistake”. “Central leadership has also taken it very seriously that there is no coordination among party ministers. Instead of evolving consensus on controversial issues, the BJP ministers are speaking in different language,” a source said, adding, “party leadership has arrived at a conclusion that controversial Bill was passed all due to lack of consensus among party ministers.”

The sources further said the BJP’s central leadership was also not convinced with the decision of the state government to pass the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

As reported earlier, the Cabinet in its meeting on June 23 had passed the Transfer of Property Bill in the presence of BJP ministers. Essence of the Bill is against core of BJP’s ideology and it was all due to some MLAs, including BJP’s rebel legislator Pawan Gupta, who raised hue and cry that the Bill was referred to a select committee of the Legislative Assembly.