Now how is this for governance? Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati was so rattled at the prospect of Sonia Gandhi becoming the country's prime minister that she dashed off her resignation letter to BJP President M. Venkaiah Naidu. She also faxed an important missive to Chief Secretary B.K. Saha in Bhopal asking for 10 of her closest supporters to be given cream postings as chairmen of various state corporations. The orders, of course, were issued even as her letter of resignation reached Naidu.

ON THE SAFFRON SPOT: Bharati has earned the ire of partymen

In the din over the Congress returning to power at the Centre and the depression that hit the BJP leadership, not many noticed the arrival of a diminutive but authoritative gentleman aged 80 at the BJP headquarters in Delhi. The former chief minister and state BJP President Kailash Joshi had come calling on the party's leaders to brief them about the lack of coordination between the organisation and the Government in Madhya Pradesh.

All appointments were being made arbitrarily and personal agenda was given precedence over party considerations, he told the central leaders. "The chief minister did not take the party into confidence and we have reservations about appointments that are totally undeserving," says Joshi. BJP's state General Secretary Kaptan Singh Solanki has said nothing in public but party circles in Bhopal know that he is quite annoyed. In the aftermath of the party's victory in December 2003, he had gritted his teeth but said nothing when people like Dhal Singh Bisen, Dilip Singh Shekhawat and Shaitan Pal Singh, largely seen as ineffectual, were given key assignments. But evidently he was at the end of his tether. Joshi and Solanki called Bharati over to the state party office and at the two-hour closed door meeting, Bharati is said to have been taken to task for her whimsical ways. She came out of the meeting suitably chastised and has now promised to seek the party's views before finalising any appointments. A formula for coordination between the Government and the organisation is also being worked out by the BJP leaders in Delhi.

MEN OF HER CHOICE

THE LAST STRAW: Appointments of Bhardwaj (above) and Lodhi to key posts opened the doors of trouble

The question here is when did Bharati, who led the party to a landslide win in the 2003 assembly polls, go wrong? At the very outset, it seems. Her brother Swami Lodhi has been appointed chairman of the Civil Supplies Corporation. Lodhi had rebelled against Bharati and the BJP before the assembly elections.

Another "brother" Ratanchand Phulwani from Chatarpur, a political novice, has been made the chairman of the Madhya Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. Then there is Nitish "Krishna" Bhardwaj who is now the chairman of the State Tourism Corporation despite the fact that he is from Bihar. "It is an internal party matter and I will not comment on how and why the appointments were made," says Bharati. Her hurry may have cost her a lot ahead of the impending cabinet expansion.

So far, riding on the back of December's massive verdict, her will prevailed over everyone else's. All appointments from ministers to chairmen have been made by her and no one questioned them. But with Joshi raising uncomfortable questions and a change of guard at the Centre, the party wants to show the chief minister her place.

-with Shyamlal Yadav