Kalyani Shankar
It was the BJP’s national executive meeting in Goa which gave a new lease of life to the Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in 2002, when the BJP leader LK Advani and the party backed him to the full after the Godhara riots, while the then Prime Minister Vajpayee was critical of the non-action by the Gujarat government in containing the riots.
After a decade, this week’s Goa national executive meet of the party is different with the same Advani trying to block the chances of Modi’s elevation. No one expects the Goa meet to nominate Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate as it is a long way off. However, what is expected is that he may be made the chairman of the campaign committee for the coming Assembly elections in four states, which is a step forward. The party is poised to do well in the Assembly polls by retaining Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and winning Rajasthan. Advani would not like Modi to grab the credit.
The problem for Modi is Advani has been consistently making it clear that the BJP’s poster-boy is not his choice for the top job. Why is it that Advani, who had handpicked Modi in his rath yatra days in the 1990s, is now not for the latter’s elevation? Various reasons are attributed for his stand. First of all, Advani himself has not given up his dreams of becoming the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate and throw the dice once again. Therefore, he would like to keep this option open till the last minute. Despite his advanced age Advani is physically fit and continues to be the tall leader and would be acceptable to the NDA allies, according to his supporters.
Secondly, Modi has alienated the top leaders of the party including Advani because of his arrogance and his disinclination to carry the others with him. They are put off by his showmanship and arrogance. There are rumours that Advani may shift his constituency in 2014 elections to Madhya Pradesh rather than continue to represent Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
Thirdly, Advani may sincerely not want to break the NDA which he had built up assiduously for the past two decades and more by foisting Modi on the allies who are reluctant to accept a non-secular person like the CM tainted with the Godhara riots. The JD(U), the biggest NDA ally has given time up to the end of this year for the BJP to make up its mind giving some guidelines for choosing the PM candidate.
Fourthly, Advani is promoting other leaders like the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, who is more acceptable to him than Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, if he does not get nominated himself. He is also trying to run down Modi by praising the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who is also from the backward classes, by pointing out that his achievement are comparably more praiseworthy than Modi as he has turned around a backward state like Madhya Pradesh, while Gujarat was already a developed state. If he wins Madhya Pradesh for the third time, which he may, Chouhan can also make a claim for the top job by performing a hat trick. So could Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh if he wins the state for the third time.
Fifthly, while Modi may have the support at the ground level, the leaders who would sit and choose the man for the top job are not fully convinced of Modi’s choice as many of them are also in the fray. It suits them to shoot from Advani’s shoulders.
Will Advani be able to have his way this time? He has been using his blog to air his views freely. It was he who prevailed upon the party to remove the former Karnataka chief minister Yediyurappa although the party paid a huge price in the recent Karnataka elections for this action. ? He successfully torpedoed a second term for the BJP chief Nitin Gadkari a few months ago despite the full backing of the RSS. Now he wants the same Gadkari to head the campaign committee for the four state Assembly elections to block Modi. In fact he is willing to back anyone other than Modi.
The question is that what will the BJP do? It is true that Modi has not been the unanimous choice of either the RSS or the BJP. Even the BJP chief Rajnath Singh only calls him the most popular leader of the country. It is going to be a difficult exercise as the party has to reconcile Advani to Modi’s choice, or the party must choose someone else for the top job, as Advani wants. This may be a difficult going by the hardline Advani has taken against the Gujarat chief minister. It is not to the advantage of the party to show a disunited party before the Assembly polls or the Lok Sabha polls as it would send a wrong signal to the electorate. So the time is very short for the party to fall in line with Advani’s view or Advani to reconcile to Modi. Therefore it is interesting to see which way the party will choose – block Modi or work out a compromise formula or buy time. Meanwhile, the Congress is delighted and watching the fun from the ringside. (IPA)
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