MUMBAI/BANGALORE/PATNA: In the Bharatiya Janata Party, inner party feud isn’t confined to its central leadership. There are at least three state units – Maharashtra, Karnataka and Bihar – where the party has been hit by factionalism.The state BJP is almost vertically divided into two factions: one led by Gopinath Munde, the deputy leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the other by former party president Nitin Gadkari, who enjoys the backing of the RSS. Party insiders say their continuing turf-war has even delayed the announcement of party candidates in Maharashtra.Munde was the deputy chief minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the 1990s, holding important portfolios of energy and home, while Gadkari was the public works department (PWD) minister at the time. According to former ministers who did not wish to identified, Munde and Gadkari clashed with each other even in cabinet meetings.The latest round of fights between Munde and Gadkari is over grabbing party tickets for their nominees. For instance, Munde wants Anil Shirole to fight from Pune while Gadkari wants Girish Bapat. Munde wanted Mumbai North East for Poonam Mahajan, the daughter of Pramod Mahajan, but Gadkari’s choice was Kirit Somaiya.Since Munde has better access to Shiv Sena, Gadkari has now opened a channel of communication with Sena’s rival Raj Thackeray.The feud between former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar is, at least, 10 years old. It flared up soon after the 2004 assembly polls when the BJP became the largest party in Karnataka’s 224-member assembly.The partyhad gone to polls with Kumar as state unit president and Yeddyurappa heading the campaign committee. As Kumar got elected to the Lok Sabha and Yeddyurappa to the assembly, the latter wanted to be the leader of the legislature party and the chief minister with the help of defectors and allies. Kumar, however, was seen to be a hurdle. This created a division between them.BJP’s decision to do business with Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party has led to serious dissent within the Bihar BJP.The BJP legislator from Bhagalpur, Ashwani Choubey, had gone public with his criticisms in order to scuttle the alliance. “The alliance should not happen. How will we defend ourselves if Paswanji joins, he is the same leader who kept on attacking Modiji for nearly 12 years,” Choubey said.