Murder leaves BJP groping for leader

Party has lost the only figure with true mass appeal

Shattered by its defeat in the 2004 general election, bereft of ideas, and groping for new leaders to guide it out of the political wilderness, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plunged into further gloom last week with the murder of its leader, Pramod Mahajan.

While Indians struggle to understand the sensational killing - 57-year-old Mahajan was shot dead by his younger brother, Pravin - the party hierarchy remains acutely aware that he was the only leader among the younger BJP politicians who combined mass appeal and a talent for fund-raising.

Before Mahajan rose to prominence, corporate India had held the BJP at a distance. Its support lay in small traders and shopkeepers, but they could hardly fill the party's coffers. It was Mahajan, based in the financial capital Mumbai, who over 20 years won the trust - and donations - of corporations and business houses.

'In his death, the country has lost a skilled organiser, a forceful orator and an aggressive representative of its youth,' said BJP leader and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Always flamboyant, Mahajan dragged the BJP out of its obsession with austerity and into conferences in five-star hotels and Goa beach resorts.

He also courted controversy, being accused of favouring his corporate friends when he was the telecoms minister.