Following its Assembly poll successes in Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi, the BJP’s current action is also being perceived as its bid to warn the leaders who have persistently challenged some regional party faces appointed to key positions by the central leadership.

However, a senior BJP leader told The Indian Express that this action could not be linked to the poll outcomes per se. “The leaders (slapped with show-cause notices) are not those without whom the party’s prospects may be hurt in any of the states. Sometimes, a message has to be given that the callous remarks must stop. It could not have been done when the entire party leadership was busy with Delhi polls. Once the elections were done, they were served notices,” he said.

The leader also said the elections in the states to which these leaders belong to, are far away. “The NDA allies are standing firmly with the government (at the national level). There is no challenge. Successes in Assembly polls only bolster public perception of the party and demoralise the Opposition,” he added.

On Monday, the BJP’s central disciplinary committee issued a second notice to its Bijapur City MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal for his continuous tirades against state BJP chief B Y Vijayendra, the son of former CM and senior leader B S Yediyurappa. Since Vijayendra’s appointment as Karnataka BJP chief in November 2023, Yatnal, who was also served a show cause notice in December last year over the issue, has been demanding his ouster.

Another BJP leader who was served a show cause notice on Monday was Haryana minister and seven-time MLA Anil Vij for his critical statements against state BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli and Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini. This notice was issued to Vij by Badoli.

In neighbouring Rajasthan too, senior minister Kirodi Lal Meena was served a show cause notice by state BJP chief Madan Rathore over his allegations that the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led state government tapped his phones.

While Vij staked claim to the CM’s post before the Haryana Assembly polls held in October 2024 and a week ago ruffled feathers by implying “internal sabotage” against him, Meena in Rajasthan had been making waves for a long time and even resigned from the cabinet, although his resignation was not accepted.

According to BJP sources, the Karnataka issue has been complex with the party “allowing” Yatnal to continue his tirades against Vijayendra, even calling him “corrupt and characterless” while another MLA from the Yatnal camp, Ramesh Jarkiholi, calling the state chief as a “bachcha (kid)”.

Sources said the BJP leadership has always had an ambivalent equation with Yediyurappa despite his bittersweet relationship with the party, attributing it to the latter’s hold on the Lingayat community – seen to be a core voter base of the party in the state. Yatnal, a Lingayat and seen to be an associate of Yediyurappa’s bete noire B L Santhosh , does not want Vijayendra to fill his father’s shoes but lacks the popularity and heft of Yediyurappa.

While Yatnal’s criticism of Vijayendra and Yediyurappa began in November 2023, when he had accused the former CM of being allegedly involved in a Rs 40,000 crore scam during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a perception that adverse comments by party leaders were on the rise after June 2024 – when the BJP saw a dip in its Lok Sabha tally. The BJP was largely seen to be a disciplined unit since Narendra Modi first became Prime Minister in 2014.

The notices to the leaders also come at a time when the party rank and file are looking forward to the election of the party president besides the selection of the new Delhi and Manipur CMs. These decisions would be taken after Modi’ s return from his France and US visits, sources said.

The only BJP-ruled state where the party has “acted” to change the guard is Manipur, where CM N Biren Singh was asked to step down. Sources said Singh’s ouster came due to the almost two-year-long ethnic conflict raging between Meiteis and Kuki-Zos in the state besides the opposition he faced from a section of the BJP MLAs.