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Bahujan Samaj Party leader Kanshi Ram may have opened a Pandora's box with his comments on the deputy chief minister's post as far as the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP is concerned.
The sharp differences within the party over the question of a tie-up with the BSP in UP resurfaced after Kanshi Ram said that there would be no deputy chief minister under Mayawati to prevent growth of a parallel power centre.
So far, BJP leaders had avoided airing their reservations on the alliance at the instance of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Kanshi Ram's outburst has given the dissenters an opportunity to vent their ire. However, a section within the BJP continues to defend the alliance.
"It was not proper of Kanshi Ram to have made public statements when the two parties were still discussing the issue," state unit chief Kalraj Mishra said.
The common goal of preventing a BJP-BSP alliance had even united the otherwise at-odds Mishra and former chief minister Rajnath Singh.
Rajnath Singh is understood to be opposing the alliance as he fears being marginalised under a Mayawati-led regime while Mishra is using the issue to secure a berth in the Union cabinet.
Mishra, who has never contested a parliamentary or an assembly election in his political career, is a member of the Rajya Sabha.
On the other hand, their colleague and former irrigation and public works minister Om Prakash Singh has gone to the extent of holding a brief for the BSP chief.
"Kanshi Ram has obviously been misunderstood," Om Prakash Singh said and even mildly rebuked Mishra by saying, "When an issue is being discussed by national leaders, it is improper on the part of state leaders to be air their views in public."
"Can state-level leaders override the views of the national leaders?" he asked.
Om Prakash Singh and former housing and urban development minister Lalji Tandon are keen aspirants for the position of deputy chief minister.
While Tandon's strength lies in his proximity to Vajpayee, Om Prakash Singh is relying on his credentials as a backward class leader.
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