Infighting in BJP to the fore, Arvind Sharma camp blames Rohtak leaders for poll drubbing

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, June 8

BJP leaders have been taking swipes at the Congress over rampant factionalism in the grand old party. However, in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, groupism and infighting were witnessed in the BJP as well.

Lost poll due to sabotage: Dan Singh

• Congress candidate from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat Rao Dan Singh alleged on Saturday that he lost the recent elections due to sabotage by some party leaders
• He said the matter had been brought to the notice of the party high command for taking appropriate action
• Asked about his poor performance in his own Assembly segment Mahendragarh, Rao Dan Singh admitted he lost there due to his shortcomings

The BJP leaders have raised much hue and cry over some party insiders sabotaging elections. After BJP’s Sonepat candidate Mohan Lal Badauli and Gurugram candidate Rao Inderjit Singh, the camp of the party’s Rohtak candidate Dr Arvind Sharma has also blamed local party leaders for the poor poll performance. While Sharma and Badauli lost the elections, the winning margin of Rao Inderjit reduced considerably.

As per BJP sources, Sharma’s wife has expressed displeasure at the role played by a former state minister during canvassing on a WhatsApp group of party workers. However, local BJP leaders say that Sharma’s own conduct and the lack of performance as MP and not the alleged lack of support from local leaders had led to his defeat in the elections.

“It is very easy to blame others for the poor election results. However, those blaming others for their defeat should introspect on their own conduct and performance instead of looking for scapegoats,” said a local BJP leader.

Political analyst Ranbir Kadiyan says that it is not right to attribute the defeat or low performance of the BJP candidates to groupism or infighting in the party. “Some BJP leaders may not have put in their best or sincere efforts to ensure the victory of the party candidates. However, this was a tough election for the ruling party due to strong anti-incumbency. Hence, even if all BJP leaders had supported the party candidates, the results would not have been much different,” he observes.

Rajendra Sharma, Head of the Political Science Department at MDU, Rohtak, says that factionalism prevails in all parties to some extent. “It seemed more prevalent in the Congress as its national leadership has weakened in the recent past. On the other hand, it was not so evident in the BJP owing to its strong national leadership,” he notes.