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Fernandes aide set to join BJP

JAIPUR: Gopal Pacherwal, who used to be an all-weather friend to Janata Dal (United) leader George Fernandes, is all set to desert him and join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Mr. Pacherwal, whose name figured in the expose that Tehelka.com had featured some time back, is formally joining the BJP at the official residence of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Wednesday along with hundreds of his Dalit supporters.

With the exit of Mr. Pacherwal, one-time Member of Parliament from the reserved constituency of Tonk and two-time MLA from his native Keshoraipatan in Bundi district from the Janata Dal fold, Mr. Fernandes would be losing the last member of the once active socialists group in Rajasthan. Socialist leader Manickchand Surana is already in the BJP, while Pandit Ramkishen left Mr. Fernandes some time ago to join Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party. Arjun Dhan Dehta, essentially a trade union leader, is with JD(S).

“Barring the Congress and the BJP, no other party has any relevance in Rajasthan. I have been fighting the Congress all these days, first under the leadership of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia and later along with George Fernandes,” Mr. Pacherwal told this correspondent on phone.

“All the parties now accept socialism and secularism as their credo. Moreover in the National Democratic Alliance we have been sitting together and sharing power with the BJP for long,” said Mr. Pacherwal.

If Mr. Pacherwal had enough reasons to decide to leave his long-time friend and mentor, Ms. Raje too seems to have her own compulsions to take in this Dalit leader.

The immediate provocation for Ms. Raje to act on this front is the recent outburst by BJP national vice-president Kailash Meghwal in Delhi against her leadership. Mr. Meghwal, whose close association with former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is well known, is perhaps the tallest Dalit leader the party has in Rajasthan.

After Mr. Meghwal turning hostile, Ms. Raje had to act swiftly to find favour with the Dalits as another Dalit leader and Minister, Madan Dilwar, is at loggerheads with her.

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