(From left) BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley at a meeting at the party headquarters on Sunday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Sept. 11: The BJP is considering issuing a formal clarification that L.K. Advani’s proposed rath yatra for “clean governance” has nothing to do with who will lead the party in the next Lok Sabha election, sources said.

Without stating it in so many words, the intended message would be that the yatra is part of the BJP’s overall campaign against the Congress-led UPA’s corruption and not meant to showcase a personality.

The likely clarification, the sources said, is occasioned by a perception that Advani has sought to again foreground his claim as the BJP’s nonpareil leader among a set of “squabbling” second-generation aspirants and will, therefore, “logically” be positioned as its prime ministerial candidate for a second time.

Senior leader Sushma Swaraj gave an inkling of what the message could be. Asked about the yatra at a media conference on Friday, she said: “You are unnecessarily linking the two things (the candidacy and the yatra). The BJP parliamentary board unanimously approved the yatra after the president proposed it.”

Interpretations of Advani’s plans have created a sense of disquiet in the BJP.

Some leaders are wondering if the RSS’s blueprint to usher in a “generation makeover”— signalled by the installation of Nitin Gadkari as party president and of Sushma and Arun Jaitley as Opposition leaders in Parliament — has been thrown out of the window.

The leaders are thinking aloud whether they are “doomed to be trapped in a Vajpayee-Advani time warp”.

The leaders are unable to understand what “miracle” Advani had wrought in the two years since he led the BJP to defeat in 2009 for the party to have endorsed his leadership again.

The apprehensions have gained ground as the Sangh has let it be known through spokesperson Ram Madhav that it supported the yatra.

Sangh sources, however, termed it a “technical backing”, underscoring that support for an anti-corruption campaign — which is close to its heart — should not be construed as endorsement of political ambition.

“When a senior leader and a former swayamsevak like Advaniji informs us that he wants to start a yatra and that too against corruption, do you seriously expect us to say, no we do not approve of it?” a Sangh leader asked.

Some RSS and VHP leaders still smart at the thought of how their “ideological baby”, the Ram rath yatra, was “hijacked” by Advani to place himself and the BJP centre stage.

The sources said the BJP was likely to issue a statement restating what Gadkari had said a couple of weeks ago — that the 2014 polls would be fought under a “collective and united” leadership.

The party held a series of meetings today, one at Advani’s residence and another of the office-bearers at the BJP office. But all that was said after the meetings was that general secretary Ananth Kumar — regarded as Advani’s staunchest loyalist —will be the convenor.

Gadkari’s speech at the office-bearers’ meeting didn’t mention the yatra. A statement listed the subjects he covered, from price rise and the UPA’s “soft” policy on terrorism to the fear that India might “compromise its territorial integrity” by ceding away land to Bangladesh.

Spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said later: “Our president (Gadkari) didn’t bring it up and said we understand the implications of the yatra and we will fully back it.”

Among the other yatra-related concerns are how Advani will use the corruption theme, especially in the BJP-ruled states and in those going to the polls over the next few months.

Corruption, the sources said, is a major issue in two such states, Uttarakhand and Punjab. While the BJP hoped to cut its losses in the hill state after chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal was today replaced with B.C. Khanduri, it will have to play second-fiddle to ally Akali Dal in Punjab.

Like the DMK in Tamil Nadu earlier, the Akali Dal and the Badals who lead Punjab’s ruling party are also fighting graft charges.