The BJP will split: Prahlad Patel

Claiming a possible split in the Bharatiya Janata Party after Uma Bharti's Ram-roti yatra, former Union minister Prahlad Patel said on Friday, "Partymen are disillusioned by the double standards of senior leaders, who have ignored the party ideology for long and have only recently realised the need to uphold it."

"The split in BJP will take place after the yatra ends at Ayodhya on January 14. There would be no need to declare it; it will be known," Patel told reporters here.

Claiming that there was a large turnout of saffron workers during Bharti's Bhopal-Ayodhya march, the Ram Roti Yatra Samiti in-charge said Saturday's public meet at Banda in Uttar Pradesh will be an 'announcement of BJP's end'.

Making a scathing attack on BJP leadership, Patel said, "When Umaji spoke about ideological fall in BJP, she was shown the door. But outgoing BJP president L K Advani has accepted at the Mumbai convention that there was growing corruption, deteriorating values and Congress-isation of BJP".

"It shows the double standards and creates an epitome of confusion," he said, adding that this state of affairs was also seen in former prime pinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who sought inclusion of a line in a proposal, to describe as 'shameful', the act by MPs caught on camera for raising questions in Parliament.

"Why did Vajpayeeji not say this openly when BJP and others walked out of Parliament against a motion to expel tainted MPs," he asked. "Neither this face-saving measure, nor a change of guard in party will be able to save the situation."

Refusing to divulge Bharti's plans regarding the formation of a new party, Patel claimed that in both Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, people have turned out in support of the sanyasin, who has been sticking to ideology.

While in Madhya Pradesh, people wanted good governance and food, in Uttar Pradesh they sought 'end of criminalisation of politics, ideological alternative and political stability', he claimed.

Accepting that the formation of a new party was being considered as a viable political alternative, the Bharti loyalist said he had been receiving several suggestions, including that of the name for the proposed party.

Patel also revealed that a collection of letters written by Bharti during the march and a detailed discription of the event that took place will be released in the form of a book after January 14.