Back in December 2013, BJP won the most seats in Delhi Elections. They had 32 seats, just 3 short of majority. But Dr Harshvardhan refused to form the Government. BJP had taken the principled stand that they cannot ally with parties against whom they had fought tooth and nail. Of course they must have tried some horse trading before they reached this point, but they did abstain from making any political compromise.
The result of this is all too well known. AAP seized the opportunity, in typical Vijay style from Deewar, mocked BJP’s “Usool and Adarsh” and formed a Government with Congress. It was ironical that AAP’s genesis was based on its stand opposing the corruption of the Congress at the centre, and now they had joined hands with them. What should have ideally been a field day for BJP to slander AAP for abandoning principles, turned into a a launch pad for AAP. AAP managed to do something in those 49 days, which eventually stuck in the Delhi voters’ minds who gave them a stunning victory now.
BJP seems to have learned its lesson from the Delhi debacle, even before the debacle materialise. After Maharastra elections, when BJP was in a similar situation, where they were just short of majority, they were prudent and were ready to business with NCP even, the same NCP which was called “Naturally Corrupt Party” by Modi while campaigning. Rajiv Pratap Rudy went to the extent of saying “The BJP will welcome support of all parties except Congress”, indicating that they are open to interacting with the NCP. At that time, this news had disturbed many die-hard fans.
Again in Bihar, BJP was hinting at supporting Manjhi in the trust vote to try and thwart Nitish Kumar’s attempt to re-establish his reign. This time BJP played on the principle that enemy’s enemy is one’s friend. Senior BJP leader from Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi said that it was the BJP’s unanimous view to support Manjhi. This was after Manjhi had met PM Modi at Delhi. This again must have been severely embarrassing for Sushil Kumar Modi, who was a staunch Manjhi critic until recently.
BJP’s latest U-Turn is in Jammu & Kashmir, where it is now forming the Government with PDP. During campaigning, Modi had the following words for PDP:
NC & PDP are dynastic parties. Congress supports them alternatively & then says they are bad. J&K needs freedom from these 3 parties.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 8, 2014
While all the above can and will be justified as sane, practical decisions, it is still a question, how will die-hard fans of BJP’s ideology respond. It is bound to be an embarassment, but if BJP can do an AAP, and for example in Jammu and Kashmir (where their cross-ideology pact has actually materialised) provide a good Government, BJP supporters may forgive the opportunism, just as AAP supporters in Delhi welcomed Kejriwal back like a long lost lover.
