India: BJP wary of Ishrat case - its 2014 plans might get torpedoed midstream

The Telegraph, June 29 , 2013

BJP wary of Ishrat case
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN

New Delhi, June 28: The BJP is apprehensive of the political implications of the Ishrat Jahan ‘‘fake’’ encounter killing that the CBI seems set to pursue to its logical end.

The party is afraid its 2014 plans might get torpedoed midstream if the agency closes in on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and his aide, Amit Shah.

Officially, spokespersons put on a brave face and claimed the CBI’s “hot pursuit” would turn Modi into “victim and hero”. But the underlying fear was if he and his aide were caught in a legal tangle, the process would impair Modi’s national campaign plans and effectively put Shah out of Uttar Pradesh.

“It will undermine Shah’s working and affect his mobility,” an office-bearer said. Shah was recently sent to Lucknow to create a semblance of “order” and discipline in the fractured state unit where top leaders work at cross-purposes. Shah is considered an “able” organisational hand.

BJP sources said if the party had to come within striking distance of power or accumulate 180-plus Lok Sabha seats, there had to be big gains in Uttar Pradesh. Modi too reckoned the heartland state was crucial if his national dreams were to materialise, they added.

The BJP’s other belief was that by playing up Ishrat’s “innocence”— she was killed in 2004 along with four men who were allegedly terrorists sent to Gujarat to kill Modi — the Congress was trying to polarise Muslim votes.

“That could happen. But a reverse consolidation of Hindu votes is much harder unless people sympathise with Modi and we project him as a victim of the Congress’s machinations,” a source said.

“Last 10 years, what has the Congress not done to Modi? Yet, he emerged successful after every battle he fought. We hope he comes out of this unscathed,” a spokesperson said.

The other potential fallout was that despite the big cadre support for Modi, his rise was resisted by a section of the brass. Yesterday, senior leader Yashwant Sinha took a swipe at him for displaying “parochialism” while “selectively” rescuing Gujaratis in Uttarakhand.

Yashwant, Shatrughan Sinha and Sushma Swaraj are among those reportedly in sympathy with L.K. Advani. They believe Advani was “unfairly” done out by Modi with ‘‘help’’ from BJP chief Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley.

“A whiff of trouble for Modi and this lobby will certainly step up efforts to put him down,” a source said.