It was supposed to be the party's most ambitious project in rejuvenation. When the baton passed from Jana Krishnamurthy, a dour veteran from the party's old guard, into the hands of 51-year-old M. Venkaiah Naidu in May this year, it was a moment of great expectations in the BJP. However, seven months after the much hyped generational facelift, the BJP is still a party adrift. And it seems the cracks are spreading.

HELPLESS AT THE TOP: Naidu, Advani and Vajpayee have been unable to stem the dissidence

The trend set in December 2001, when the BJP Legislature Party in the newly formed state of Chhattisgarh split and 12 MLAs formed a new political outfit. Dissidence has spread from state to state and even to the Centre. Remember, the BJP's big two-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani-had touted the changes as an ambitious effort to rejuvenate the party. But, Naidu's Team Renaissance has made heavy weather of correcting organisational imbalances and indiscipline. The new BJP team includes Arun Jaitley, who had also quit the Cabinet like Naidu, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Rajnath Singh, former Central minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Anita Arya, MP, and rss hand Sanjay Joshi.

In retrospect, all that happened was some cosmetic treatment. The body is still weak. Whatever happened to the so-called Project Rejuvenation? The new leaders couldn't bring in a new vision or a new cohesion. Today, it is a case of the party falling apart, almost. And the centre cannot hold. It is not often that a chief minister plays dissident. As the BJP prepared for a do-or-die battle in Gujarat, it was not former chief minister Keshubhai Patel who put a spanner in the works. It was the BJP's brand new mascot Narendra Modi who played the spoiler by insisting that his factional adversary Haren Pandya be denied a ticket.

His colleagues pleaded with him-don't make Pandya a "prestige issue". Modi bluntly replied: "Gunah kisi aur ne kiya aur gunehgar mujhe kaha ja raha hai (Someone else has committed the crime and I am being branded the criminal)." The Gujarat chief minister told his interlocutors, "Just get him (Pandya) out of Gujarat." Even the efforts of RSS Joint General Secretary Madan Das Devi failed to move the former swayamsevak. Naidu had to oblige Modi. The BJP president asked Pandya to "opt" out of elections.

FADING GLOSS
	RAJNATH SINGH Job profile: In charge of nine states, including UP and J&K. Performance: Is grounded in UP, backs anti-Mayawati moves.
	ARUN JAITLEY Job profile: In charge of 14 states, is also spokesman. Performance:Concentrates on Gujarat, ignores other briefs.
	SANJAY JOSHI Job profile: Looks after organisational affairs. Performance: Low-profile to the point of being invisible.
	ANITA ARYA Job profile: Women, Scheduled castes and tribes affairs. Performance: Yet to convene meeting of frontal outfits.

In the seven months since it has taken charge of the BJP, the party's new-look leadership has stumbled from crisis to crisis, unable to set an agenda. To begin with, it faced resistance from older leaders who felt sidelined. Also, it was bogged down in Delhi-centric assignments that prevented it from taking a national perspective. The high-profile nature of the Gujarat elections has seen Jaitley concentrate on the state. Uttar Pradesh is intrinsic to Rajnath's politics while Naqvi has been functioning as an additional spokesman. Joshi, in charge of organisation and a link with the RSS, maintains a low profile to the point of being invisible. Arya, who is in charge of "women, scheduled castes and tribes" is yet to convene meetings of the sc and ST morchas. Party Vice-President Pyarelal Khandelwal does not enjoy the clout that he did when Krishnamurthy was the party president. He is in charge of Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and the Northeast.

In many ways, the Gujarat situation was only a variation of the BJP's troubles in Uttar Pradesh where personal egos were enlarged by factors like caste and ministerial berths. The BJP leadership was forced to seek the disqualification of 10 MLAs led by the veteran Ganga Bhakt Singh. Here again, efforts to deploy former party president Kushabhau Thakre to cool tempers did not work. The 80-year-old leader was heard out politely but the dissidents said "no deal". An exasperated Naidu had to forcefully appeal to Vajpayee and Advani to sanction disciplinary action against the dissidents. "If all other means are exhausted, then go ahead," Vajpayee is understood to have finally said.

In West Bengal, where the BJP has a limited presence, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Tapan Sikdar addressed a press conference at the Kolkata Press Club opposing plans for a tie-up with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress for the panchayat polls. Earlier, in April, the BJP had to expel eight legislators for cross voting in the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka. They had defied the party whip, resulting in the defeat of the party's official nominee Tara Devi and a big victory for liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya. In Himachal Pradesh, Union Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar is complaining about the delimitation of constituencies while in Delhi, state unit chief Madan Lal Khurana has become a serial dissident.

"I am worried by what happened in Uttar Pradesh. I realise the BJP has three crore members, but there have to be limits. We will have to be strict and nip indiscipline in the bud," Naidu told india today. However, Jaitley claims the party is still active. "For so long, the party had been overshadowed by the Government. Now it is proactive and is joining issues with the Congress," he says. About the inability of party general secretaries to travel to states, he points out that he has had no choice but to concentrate his energies on Gujarat.

Similarly, Rajnath has been involved in resolving the Uttar Pradesh imbroglio. Says Naqvi: "I have to coordinate the tours of more than 20 leaders from Delhi." Naqvi says Khandelwal is already in Gujarat. Both Naqvi and Jaitley feel that Arya is new to the job of a central office-bearer and needs more time. They also maintain that Joshi has been working hard to revive RSS-BJP ties at the grassroots.

THE OLD GUARD IS SULKING
	SHANTA KUMAR Himachal Pradesh The rural development minister's heart is in Himachal Pradesh politics. He is unhappy over delimitation of constituencies but has been cold shouldered.
	MADAN LAL KHURANA Delhi The former chief minister swings between dissent and optimism. Uneasy with the BJP central leadership, feels his seniority has not been acknowledged.
	TAPAN SIKDAR West Bengal The minister of state for communication is dead opposed to the new state leadership. Also, does not want a tie-up with Trinamool Congress for panchayat polls.
	RAMDAS AGGARWAL Rajasthan The old war horse has been pushed to the wayside to make way for Vasundhara Raje. He has reluctantly accepted the change, but is still unhappy.

Jaitley argues that the Gujarat situation has been handled well because there has been no friction between Modi and Keshubhai. But he does admit that problems cropped up due to individualism. "Advaniji has pointed out that in some cases the ego is becoming greater than the party. The line between self-respect and individualism is crossed. We are dealing with human beings, not machines," he says.

The organisational decay and growing indiscipline in the party are rooted in the new team's reluctance to take on entrenched interests in the various states. If the old guard is sulking, the younger leaders are yet to get their act together. Party sources say that the revolt in Chhattisgarh could not be explained away as the Congress' money game. "Lakhiram Aggarwal's presence in a tribal dominated state was not going to work," says a party MP. Similarly in Uttar Pradesh, the influence of Lalji Tandon, Kalraj Mishra, Rajnath and Omprakash Singh is seen to be part of the problem. In Madhya Pradesh, plans to send Union Coal and Mines Minister Uma Bharati as state chief is being stiffly resisted by party seniors.

In Rajasthan, Union Minister of State for Planning and Personnel Vasundhara Raje was appointed state president after considerable effort. Even then controversy lingers as Raje has refused to give up her ministerial berth. The new Chhattisgarh BJP President Raman Singh is following suit.

In short, the BJP's own version of perestroika didn't work. And the generational shift in the middle did not result in the much-needed revival. At the most crucial moment in its life, the party is drifting. Either the new generation leaders couldn't rise to the challenge or the ancient leadership didn't let them make a difference. The loser is the party itself. The so-called party with a difference is fast turning out to be a party of indifference. At stake is its own survival.