BJP gets act right in Parliament, Bihar; but Karnataka sore point in 2010

After the shattering defeat in the general elections last year, the BJP appeared to have found its feet in 2010 putting behind internal bickerings and getting its act right in Parliament but problems with its government in Karnataka stuck out like a sore thumb.

The party spearheading the opposition campaign for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the second-generation mobile telephony spectrum scam seemed to be dented with uncomfortable questions raised over persisting with BS Yeddyurappa as chief minister in Karnataka despite a slew of allegations of irregularities against him and his Cabinet colleagues.

The party started the year that came to a close on an optimistic note with new president Nitin Gadkari and achieved several highs, including victory in Bihar polls, and success in cornering the UPA in Parliament on corruption.

However, not all was hunky dory for it as it faced challenges ranging from charges on some RSS members of involvement in terror activities, and the first saffron government in Karnataka led by Yeddyurappa facing charges of nepotism and out-of-turn land allotments apart from problems on the Reddy brothers front.

RSS-backed Gadkari took over as BJP chief in December 2009 and he sought to take along all factions, which were at loggerheads with each other in their fight for supremacy and control of the organisation.

The understanding between the RSS and BJP veteran LK Advani that he would mainly concentrate on the party's role in Parliament worked well for the principal Opposition.

Interestingly, Advani appeared to be overshadowed occasionally by his able lieutenants Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, who were vocal in leading the party charge as Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively.

However, Advani seemed to have got a new lease of life politically when the Ayodhya verdict came on September 30. He welcomed the Allahabad high court judgement declaring trifurcation of the disputed land and claimed it "vindicated" his 1990 rath yatra for building a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

BJP's main achievements were in Parliament where it successfully took on the Congress-led UPA government first on the issue of price rise and then on corruption in Commonwealth Games projects, Adarsh Housing Society in Mumbai and the Rs1.76 lakh crore scam in mobile bandwidth allocation.

On price rise and corruption, NDA even managed to have issue-based understanding with other opposition parties, including the Left. The opposition parties held a countrywide bandh on July 5 against hike in prices of petrol, diesel and other essential commodities, including foodgrains.

In Parliament, BJP emphasised on corruption in Commonwealth Games and moved on to 2G mobile bandwidth scam in the winter session.