Faultlines re-surfaced in the BJP today throwing up changed equations and fresh centres of discontent. The latest dissent played out in the name of differences of opinion over the party stand on the Rahul Mahajan episode.

Signalling a break from the BJP line of staying clear of the Rahul case, vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Kalraj Mishra, both Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh, drove up to the Tughlaq Road police station to meet Pramod Mahajan’s son. They spent five minutes at the police station, but as they came out, they had achieved their goal of demonstrating their solidarity with Rahul.

For the record, Naqvi said: ‘‘We have come to enquire about his well-being and wish him luck in getting over the present crisis.’’ He said the present state of the Mahajan family was a matter of concern for millions of BJP workers. Members of the Mahajan family, according to him, could not be treated as if they were traitors.

Former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu was also spotted in front of the police station a little afterwards, but by then Rahul had been taken by the police to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for a check-up. Sources close to Naidu claimed he happened to halt at the spot out of curiosity at the media presence. However, Naidu met with party president Rajnath Singh later to discuss the issue.

Naqvi declined comment on the remark made by senior leader Sushma Swaraj that the BJP had nothing to do with the case. However, sources said that was precisely what had upset Pramod Mahajan’s brother-in-law Gopinath Munde, who had of late met with Rajnath Singh, general secretary (organisation) Sanjay Joshi and other senior leaders to mobilise support for the troubled family.

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