Indeed, the BJP may well have the Congress(I) to thank for galvanising them around the party leadership. The arrest of the BJP leaders provided a rallying point for the floundering party. And when the unimpressive bandhs against the arrest demoralised the BJP, the releace of the detainees ordered by the court of the special magistrate, Lucknow, on December 20, let the party off the hook. The court slapped down the Uttar Pradesh governor’s attempt to win the injunction preventing the BJP leaders appearance in court and criticised the decision to transfer them outside Lucknow without the court’s permission. But this can hardly be a panacea for the many fractious issues which afflicted the party’s national executive meeting. It was riven by disputes over such issues as apportioning the blame for electoral defeat, as well as policy questions like GATT. In fact, the Dunkel issue provoked a clash between two powerful general secretaries, K.N. Govindachary and Pramod Mahajan. While Govindachary supported a draft in concert with other was all for a softer line. The matter was settled only by the intervention of A.B. Vajpayee who endorsed the anti-Dunkel position and appointed Jay Dubashi, the party’s resident economist, the prepare an agitation programme in consultation with both Govindacharya and Mahajan. The debate over the party’s electoral setbacks was less amenable to such cosmetic resolution. Senior leaders had to restrain their agitated colleagues. A clamour for Sunder Lal Patwa’s head was led by Uma Bharati. And Madhya Pradesh, went so far as to accuse Patwa of engineering the party’s defeat in that state. Another state leader asserted that “the central leadership was no less responsible, as they paid no heed to our warnings.” And even Kushabhao Thakre, a senior RSS man and the party general secretary responsible for the state, faced a barrage of criticism. Patwa, for his part, indicted Pramod Mahajan for publicly airing his view that the former chief minister was responsible for the party’s debacle. “I have not made any such remarks against Patwa, and my relations with him are cordial,” said a presumably chastened Mahajan.