TRAITMARK: Decisive and impartial, Mahajan is also known for his arrogance

If one-liners alone could get a person to the top, Pramod Mahajan would have become the BJP president three years ago when, in the run-up to the general elections, he engaged himself in a series of verbal duels with Sonia Gandhi. But if he chooses to indulge the Congress president in another spat in the future, he may be doing so as an equal. With talk gaining ground that the BJP may opt for a new, energetic president to kickstart the moribund organisation, there is mounting speculation that the choice may fall on the 53-year-old Union minister for parliamentary affairs and telecommunications.

Wasted

The BJP has talent it doesn't utilise fully ARUN JAITLEY: Suave, urban face of the party. Holds appeal for the younger generation. SUSHMA: A great orator with a great middle-class and mass appeal. She is under-utilised. VENKAIAH NAIDU: Good organiser with communication skills, he was better off in the party. UMA BHARTI: The only backward class leader of standing, she has a mass following. RAJNATH SINGH: The dynamic Thakur will remain the public face of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. G. MUNDE: Maharashtra's ex-deputy chief minister is a go-getter with the right tribal tag.

According to BJP sources, Mahajan has already been approached with a conditional offer-the No. 2 slot in the party, to be upgraded to the chief's job in about 18 months when K. Jana Krishnamurthy's term ends. That may be waiting for too long and there is pressure on the party leadership to do something-fast.

With A.B. Vajpayee indicating that he is in no mood to lend Home Minister L.K. Advani for the organisational slot, there may not be many options left for the party. Also in Mahajan's favour is the fact that his candidature has the backing of the prime minister. It is not that Vajpayee's is the only voice that counts but the prime minister does exercise a de-facto veto power in important appointments. Advani too is not averse to the idea.

Will Mahajan be up to the task? That he is decisive, practical and imaginative when it comes to party matters is not in question, nor is his ability to rejuvenate the party and motivate the cadres. He epitomises pragmatism, modernity and energy. But on the flip side is the fact that he is arrogant, overambitious, too fond of the five-star culture and, most important, unwilling to interact with ordinary party workers. Precisely the qualities that the RSS, of which he is a member, openly detests. If the RSS had its way, Mahajan is a big No. Fortunately for the BJP, Vajpayee and Advani have a higher standing in the parivar.

Satraps

FACTIONAL FEUDS, infighting and lack of credible leadership in various states have forced the BJP high command to prop up leaders with little or no mass bases as party chiefs. They have led the state units to defeats but managed to hang on. MANGE RAM GARG, Delhi: A legend in his own mind, he has made the BJP an object of ridicule. Has sidelined the mass leaders but survives courtesy the RSS. KALRAJ MISHRA, Uttar Pradesh: A pathological factionalist, he has made life difficult for every mass leader. Has never fought an election. BRIJ LAL RINWA, Punjab: Drafted from RSS to stop factionalism. Proved so inept that the BJP lost its entire Hindu vote in the assembly polls. MANMOHAN SAMAL, Orissa: He mirrors the state BJP's delusion of grandeur. Ran a bus service, lost the assembly poll but got to Rajya Sabha. LAKHI RAM AGRAWAL, Chhattisgarh: Old but inept warhorse with lots of airs. He was clueless as Ajit Jogi split the BJP and walked off with 12 MLAs.