A large section of the party led by former minister Vijay Goel has
raised serious objection over the remarks made by Malhotra on Afzal
Guru, illegal infiltration by Pakistan and Bangladesh and recent Batla house encounter.
Their allegagiton is that they were aimed at citing communal tension and would go against the party at a time when the whole of the BJP is facing wrath of the people following the arrest of its leader Sadvi Pragya Thakur in Malegaon bomb blast that killed seven people and about 40 wounded.
Besides, this powerful section of the party has also accused Malhotra of not accommodating them in the candidate selection process.
Malhotra is reported to have declared within the party that only he would distribute the party tickets. Precisely, for that reason Delhi BJP has not yet been able to finalize its candidates for the assembly polls.
According to party sources in a recent petition filed with the party high command, Goel and other leaders of the state party have urged that Malhotra be asked not to attempt to create Gujarat like scenario in Delhi, which is entirely different as far as its social fabric is concerned. Malhotra who has always been considered as a hardliner Hindu leader is contemplating to project himself as next Modi, it is said.
Taking note of the complaint by the state party leaders, the BJP
president Rajnath Singh has reportedly asked Malhotra to point out and highlight the flaws in Congress government's development plank in the national capital.
For being out of touch from Delhi's mainstream politics for a long time, Malhotra, in fact, is finding it difficult to cope with the peculiarity of the state politics. Moreover, lack of following within the party is also causing trouble for him.
Malhotra though a Member of the Parliament from South Delhi was sidelined from BJP's state party politics long back following the allegation that he had created and promoted groupism inside the party organization resulting in erosion of its impact on the people.
For years together Malhotra has been entrusted with the responsibility of handling national affairs. Currently, he is the spokesman of the BJP parliamentary party and also the deputy leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.#
India: Bharatiya Janata Party
Resentment in Delhi BJP against V K Malhotra
Differences surface within India's opposition in the national capital
Kushal Jeena - 31-10-2008 10:37 GMT-0000
New Delhi: A strong resentment in the Delhi unit of Bharatiya Janata party has come to the fore against the off-the-cuff remarks and style of functioning of party's chief ministerial candidate Vijay Kumar Malhotra during the ongoing election campaign trail for the next-month assembly polls.