The differences within the BJP were apparent on day one of the party’s National Executive here in Bangalore. While a large section of the party wants to bring Kalraj Mishra to the centrestage in UP to arrest the party’s decline in the state, UP BJP president Ramapati Ram Tripathi, a confidant of president Rajnath Singh, chose the national executive to vent “the entire state unit’s disapproval against any tie-up with Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal”.

While the party’s PM candidate L K Advani, and general secretary-in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Arun Jaitley, are supposedly in favour of an alliance with the Jat party, Rajnath, said to be unhappy with the development, made his views known through Tripathi. Kalyan Singh, too, does not favour a tie-up with Ajit Singh, a reason why he didn’t show up at the meet. Party general secretary Vinay Katiyar also stayed away.

Other differences, however, were indicative of the BJP’s social and regional spread across the country. The Karnataka BJP, for example, has accorded utmost importance to astrological and vastu calculations while finalising the National Executive itinerary. In its report presentation to the central leadership, however, the Karnataka BJP vowed to make the state the country’s “knowledge hub and the leading player in the IT sector”.

Various state units were asked to present their “reports” to the party leadership after the BJP president’s address on the first day of the national executive. Almost all state units placed the Amarnath agitation right on top of their “report cards”. Gujarat BJP president Purshottam Rupala was an exception when he chose to brief the leadership on a host of human development and growth indicators, besides Amarnath, as the party’s achievements in the state. The 24/7 power, availability of drinking water, housing facilities for the downtrodden and “jobs for all” were some of the talking points in Rupala’s report.

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