Vijay Jolly’s antics might hurt BJP in Delhi elections

Vijay Jolly’s overenthusiastic, publicity hungry act in Delhi has not only caused damage to his image but also harmed the prospects of his party in the assembly elections. His acts of defacing the name plate of Shoma Chaudhury and other theatrics have deeply embarrassed the BJP brass. Senior party leaders have responded to his foolishness with maturity, condemning what he did today and promising appropriate action against him. Jolly’s act made the BJP look more like a rogue outfit than a responsible political party. For a political outfit which is getting more and more confident about winning four states in the current round of assembly elections and eventually capturing power at the Centre in 2014, it could not have come at a worse time. The party is into the last phases of electioneering in Delhi, which goes to polls on 4 December. [caption id=“attachment_1256037” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] BJP leader Vijay Jolly outside Shoma Chaudhury’s residence yesterday. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption] Though his act could be dismissed by some as a one-off deviant act of a self-seeking leader, some in the party feel if such conduct is not checked at the outset, the party would look like a variant of Sri Ram Sene, which came into prominence some years ago by its act of vandalism in Karnataka on Valentine’s Day. The BJP leadership has to seriously guard against such leaders. Sources told Firstpost that Jolly has been spoken to by some senior party leaders and they have conveyed in no uncertain terms what they felt about him and his so-called protest against Shoma Chaudhury, Tehelka’s managing editor who quit today. Jolly’s act somewhat diverted attention from the main issue, sexual assault on a young woman by the editor of the magazine, Tarun Tejpal, and Shoma Chaudhury’s audacity in shielding him. He put the BJP in the limelight for the wrong reasons. A senior party leader said this was display of an “outlandish behaviour” on the part of Jolly and it could not be condoned by the party leadership. In fact, his momentary glory on televisions news screens threatened to distract Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj’s press conference on Delhi elections. It also threatened to put a disturbing note to senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari’s plan to induct some people from Poorvanchal (central-eastern Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Bihar) to the party. Thankfully, both of them didn’t mince their words in condemning him. Sushma said, “I completely condemn Jolly’s behaviour. The party has nothing to do with this.” She revealed that few days ago he had conveyed his intention to her and Arun Jaitley and had urged them to join in. Both the leaders had advised him not to do any such thing and stay off from the whole issue. Sushma said she would speak to party president Rajnath Singh and see to it that action was initiated against him. Gadkari was equally forthcoming. He took up this issue suo motu and said Jolly’s action was “totally unacceptable and condemnable. The party will speak to him and take necessary action”. Other party leaders Firstpost spoke to were very critical of him and felt that his unwarranted and undesired publicity seeking act could adversely affect the party’s image. For most, at least outside of Delhi, Vijay Jolly is largely unknown. Jolly personal fortunes in the party has lately been sagging and some say this could well be an act of frustration on his part to regain prominence. Jolly had been an MLA between 2003 and 2008, winning the Saket seat from his Congress rival by only 121 seats. He had also been in the race for the state party chief’s post earlier, but that was his own aspiration, the party didn’t think he was worthy of it. In last Delhi assembly elections the BJP nominated him against Sheila Dikshit. He was again the claimant for a party ticket in these elections but was denied it. His biggest claim to fame is that he was the Delhi University Students’ Union president way back in 1980-81. Jolly is still struggling to find his feet in the Delhi politics. However, he is one of the most recognisable faces of the Delhi BJP. Incidentally, the party has also issued a directive to its leaders, particularly those who speak to the media, not to talk about Tarun Tejpal and related issues unless they have been given a clearance on what they intend to speak by party’s senior spokesperson, Prakash Javdekar. There is a feeling in the party that if senior leaders, including Jaitley and Sushma, strongly expressed their views on the subject, those lower in the leadership hierarchy could give it an undesirable turn. Their apprehension was proven true by Jolly.