NEW DELHI: As the clock brings India closer to the Lok Sabha polls the BJP seniors in its Margadarshak Mandal seem to be preparing for a silent rebellion with sources maintaining, "we will not beg for seats in the Lok Sabha elections. They (Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah) will have to come to us with folded hands to request to fight the elections. This alone will save the credibility of this government.”

The five member “Margdarshak Mandal” created after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014, consists of former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, former deputy prime minister L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and current Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh besides PM Modi himself. Barring Vajpayee, all the others are sitting Lok Sabha MPs.

The old timers in the Margadarshak Mandal have been maintaining a stoic silence ever since the new team took over in 2014, insiders now claimed that Modi cannot win the elections with the help of "Bhade Ke Tattu" (hired people).

"They should read writing on the wall.They lost Karnataka and barely managed victory in the Gujarat assembly elections. Now, the coming electoral battle in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh assembly will not be easy for obvious reasons," the sources said.

Interestingly insiders claimed that, “ Atalji (Vajpayee) could have won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections had the BJP leadership removed Narendra Modi from the Gujarat chief ministership following the communal violence in the state in 2002.” But that the hardliners within had not only backed Modi, but according to them, compelled Vajpayee to advance the Lok Sabha elections after the BJP victory in the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly polls.

The sources were very critical of the performance of the Modi government, from foreign policy to Kashmir.

This government lacks a foreign policy, the sources claimed."Russia used to be our trusted friend but we have antagonized it. This has brought Russia and China together. America cannot be our friend in the new regime while our neighboring countries are distancing themselves from us,” was one assessment from within.

The sources pointed out that social tensions in society had been steadily increasing since 2014. And sqaurely blamed the Modi government for mishandling the Kashmir issue, as the policy the sources claimed had alienated the Kashmiris who were now attacking the police and armed forces.

A senior BJP leader said that the regional parties were not very comfortable with the BJP under the current leadership. And that Janata Dal(U) leader would have emerged as a Prime Minister candidate had he, while with the grand alliance of the RJD, JD(U), Congress, resigned from the Bihar chief ministership.

“We had conveyed this to him at the time but he returned back to the NDA and thereby closed the options before him,”the sources disclosed.

The murmurings are becoming a little louder within the BJP, although still very much on the sidelines. There is no indication, however, that this would spread to any significant degree or pose a problem for the party and the currernt leadership. But given the earlier silence, these are noticeable.

Latest News