(Top) LK Advani at a news conference in New Delhi on Monday; Anna Hazare. Picture by Prem Singh

New Delhi, Oct. 10: The BJP today walked a tightrope on Anna Hazare, not denying it was considering him as a candidate for President but tempering its praise for the Gandhian with an avowal of Parliament’s supremacy in democratic politics.

Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh had yesterday alleged that the BJP had led Hazare to believe it would back him in next year’s election for President.

Asked about it, L.K. Advani laughed: “I too heard it for the first time. There has been no discussion (on presidential nominees) so far.... Let discussions begin first.”

Advani, who begins his Jan Chetna Yatra tomorrow, backed Hazare’s anti-corruption campaign and his demand that the Jan Lokpal bill be passed in the next session of Parliament.

But he was careful to stress that Parliament was “the highest form of democracy” and hinted that his yatra aimed to dispel popular scepticism about the party system’s ability to uphold political ethics.

“I applaud civil society representatives; they have awakened people on issues like Lokpal and black money. People do play a role in fostering clean, ethical and democratic politics,” Advani said.

But he added that while “civil organisations have their utility, the health of democracy very much depends on the health of political parties”.

Did he approve of the way Hazare and his associates were openly canvassing against the Congress in the Hisar by-election in Haryana? Advani said: “Howsoever he raises the issue of corruption and Lokpal, we support it.”

But he avoided a straight answer when asked whether he endorsed Hazare associate Arvind Kejriwal’s assertion that the Gandhian was “over and above parliamentary democracy”.

“I do not know the context in which he said it, but to me Parliament is the highest form of democracy,” Advani said.

BJP leaders believe that Team Hazare’s role in the Hisar by-election is being “exaggerated”. Privately, they say that if an Opposition candidate defeats the Congress’s, civil society’s contribution would be “marginal”.

BJP sources conceded that any “unqualified” support for Hazare would be fraught with risks. “We are in the Opposition, so it suits us to rally round him. Tomorrow, we may be in power and at the receiving end (of his campaigns),” a party official said.

So, while Advani is expected to stay away from the complex civil society-versus-elected members debate during his yatra, he said he would focus on “clean, ethical and democratic politics” and flag the UPA’s “failure” to bring black money back from foreign banks.