From the day he was ousted from the ministry, representatives of several Yadav organisations vehemently attacked BJP leadership over humiliation of Gaur who happens to be one of the senior most leaders of the BJP, perhaps as senior as L.K. Advani is. He ten times successfully contested election to MP Vidhan Sabha and held important positions in the party. He served as leader of the opposition in the Vidhan Sabha and then he was minister in the cabinets headed by S.L. Patwa, Uma Bharati.

After Uma Bharati was asked to resign, he succeeded her as chief minister. After some month he was asked to quit the chief minister's post to pave way for Shivraj Singh. Shivraj Singh included him in his ministry. Chauhan became chief minister in 2005 but throughout Gaur's relations with Chauhan were not cordial. Gaur used to publicly criticise Chauhan and Chauhan on his part never gave respect to Gaur which he deserved as a senior leader of 86 years.

After his resignation, delegations of Yadavs both from Madhya Pradesh and outside have been meeting him assuring their support. Some of them will tell him that they will avenge his humiliation by ensuring BJP's defeat in Uttar Pradesh where Yadavs play very crucial role in the formation of the government.

On August 12, a mammoth gathering of Yadavs was held in Bhopal. Addressing the meeting, Gaur called upon Yadavs to fight like Hardik Patel if they want reservation. Gaur recalled that Yadavs were promised that they would get reservations that they were entitled to but that promise was never fulfilled.

Gaur said: “If you want reservations then you should fight like Hardik Patel who uprooted Anandiben’s government in Gujarat.” Gaur added that in the newly formed Gujarat government under Vijay Rupani’s chief ministership, there were eight ministers who belong to the Patel community.

Gaur, citing example of the Jain community, said the whole of Jain community is serving the Jain seer Vidhyasagar, who is in Bhopal these days. He said when a religious leader of Bohra community comes, the whole community devotes time in his service. Gaur said the Yadav community too should show the same dedication in service of Lord Krishna, who was a Yadav. He said it is not the time to talk peace but to take up ‘Sudarshan Chakra’.

Gaur said a Jain seer visited his house and said that his removal from ministerial post was his humiliation.

Congress state president Arun Yadav, BJP MP, Laxminarayan Yadav and several important persons of Yadav community belonging to the BJP as well as other parties, were present in the convention.

Meanwhile, the stand taken by Gaur and Sartaj Singh, who was also asked to quit ministry received strong support from union minister Kalraj Mishra. During his visit to Raipur while replying to questions from media persons Mishra said that he failed to understand the reason for the removal of Babulal Gaur and Sartaj Singh from the MP ministry. “It is said that they were removed because they have completed 75 years age. There is no such formula or policy which has been approved by the party. I am 75 but I am still a minister.” He repeatedly said that no such policy decision has been taken.

Important changes have been effected in the organisation wing of the Madhya Pradesh BJP. So far state BJP president Nandkumar Chauhan was discharging his duty with the help of the old team. The new team has caused mixed reaction in the party. It is claimed that the names of the team members were decided by the chief minister and party president Nandkumar Chauhan. This fact itself has caused some bitterness in the party circles.

BJP state unit president Nandkumar Singh Chauhan announced his new team on August 14 by showing door to many heavyweight leaders and giving one of the top posts to an RSS worker. Chauhan, apparently, did not follow the party’s guideline to give 33% representation to women. The BJP’s national council had approved an amendment in the party constitution to give women workers 33 per cent reservation on the party positions right from the mandal-level to the national-level.

BJP state unit presidents, including Chauhan, followed the guidelines till his previous term. In the outgoing team of 27 members, there were nine woman office-bearers. On Sunday, only five women workers were named as office-bearers in the 27-member team. Also, none was considered worthy for the post of general secretary. Ranjana Baghel and Usha Thakur were named as vice-presidents while Sampattia Uike, Krishna Gaur and Kavita Patidar were given the posts of secretary.

The BJP state unit president showed the door to many heavyweights like Vijendra Singh Sisodia, Rakesh Singh, Raghunandan Sharma, Ganesh Singh, Madan Mohan Gupta, Manoranjan Mishra and Chetanya Kashyap. Chauhan, however, accommodated those leaders, who were aspirants for ministerial berths during expansion of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet on June 30. They include Ranjna Baghel, Usha Thakur, Ramlal Rautel, Pradeep Laria and Sudarshan Gupta.

Vice-presidents in the outgoing team - Vijesh Lunawat and Usha Thakur - retained their position. Inclusion of RSS worker Vishnu Dutt Sharma as a general secretary means BJP’s ideological mentor, RSS, is tightening its grip over the party organisation, feel political analysts. A section of party leaders, however, say the move may cause resentment. Lokendra Parashar will replace Hitesh Bajpai as the media in-charge of the party’s state unit. He will be assisted by four joint media in-charge - Sanjay Khoche, Udai Agrawal, Rajneesh Agrawal and Sarvesh Tiwari.

The average age of the party office-bearers has considerably come down as Chauhan had announced that he would follow the party guidelines of not accommodating leaders above 75 years of age. (IPA Service)