BJP NEEDS TO DEFUSE CRISIS TO BE EFFECTIVE OPPN

AFTER AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge sternly warned Congress leaders to "shut up and discharge the responsibilities assigned to them", the public airing of views on internal issues has stopped.

- RAMU PATIL Assistant Resident Editor

It could be a temporary period of calm before the leadership issues resurface. For now, Kharge's diktat stopped the ruling party from drifting towards chaos and impacting the administration.

On the other hand, there seems to be no end to the BJP's internal squabbles. Implosions continue to rock the party despite its leadership's efforts to end it.

In Karnataka — which the BJP considers its gateway to the South — the party is facing a series of crises, with too many fissures. After its legislators Basangouda Patil Yatnal, Ramesh Jarkiholi and team raised a banner of revolt against the state leadership headed by BY Vijayendra, a public spat between close friends-turned-foes B Sriramulu and Gali Janardhan Reddy exposed the vulnerabilities within the party. The party's top guns from Ballari went ballistic, making serious accusations against each other, prompting BJP national president JP Nadda's attempts to assuage Ramulu.