Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Bhopal, Sept. 20: Atal Bihari Vajpayee will not attend the BJP national executive meeting beginning here tomorrow, party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced today.

The news has demoralised many in the Deen Dayal complex, the Madhya Pradesh BJP office in Bhopal.

The former Prime Minister, who hails from Gwalior, is a father figure here. Many old-timers were hoping his presence would spark a repeat of the spirit of the 1996 BJP conclave in Bhopal.

Following that meeting, the party came to power in Delhi under Vajpayee for a brief duration. But after that, it staged a comeback and ruled from 1998 to 2004.

With the UPA and the Left parties sparring over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the delegates were hoping the successful completion of the national executive would pave the way for recapture of power in Delhi.

Vajpayee was admitted to the AIIMS last month after he complained of “giddiness”. He was discharged a few days later and doctors are now attending to him at home.

In the recently concluded Parliament budget session, he was present only once.

Apart from the nuclear deal and the possibility of mid-term polls, the BJP national executive meet will focus on the row over the Sethusamudram ship canal project. The party’s strategy for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in 2008 is also to be discussed.

The 210 delegates will participate in eight brainstorming sessions on internal security, price rise, farmer suicides, wheat import and dissidence in BJP-ruled states. A public meeting will be held on September 22 and is likely to be addressed by Rajnath Singh, L.K. Advani and Narendra Modi.

An exhibition showing places in Madhya Pradesh that Ram crossed during his exile was added at the last minute as a special feature.

BJP state chief Narendra Singh Tomar said the Ram Path exhibition will consist mainly of photographs.

Blow to Gaur

Vajpayee’s failure to make it to Bhopal could upset the plans of state commercial tax minister Babulal Gaur.

The former chief minister has been sulking after the commerce and industry portfolio was taken away from him.

Gaur was hoping Vajpayee would take up his case with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.

He claimed Chauhan had called him a fortnight ago promising to get him back the commerce and industry portfolio. “I am insisting on this because the chief minister told me that he would be giving me that portfolio,” he said.