Varun: In power trap

New Delhi, Oct. 6: The BJP’s Big Two today lost out to the party, which nixed their bid to nominate Varun Gandhi for the Vidisha parliamentary byelection in Madhya Pradesh.

For Lal Krishna Advani the blow was harsher since Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who too had backed Varun, read the writing on the wall in time to fall in with the Madhya Pradesh unit.

It was the Sangh that guided the state unit in opposing Varun and, therefore, the wishes of Vajpayee and Advani. But a consequence of the setback to the two veterans will be strengthening of the hands of the second-rung leadership, which includes party chief Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.

The BJP’s central election committee met here and finalised the candidates for three Lok Sabha and two Assembly seats. For Vidisha, the party picked Ram Pal Singh, Madhya Pradesh public health and engineering minister.

Former civil aviation minister Shahnawaz Hussain will be fielded in Bhagalpur and Pranay Kumar Verma in Jharkhand’s Kodarma, the seat vacated by Babulal Marandi when he resigned from the party.

Of all the five seats, Vidisha was the most contentious with Vajpayee joining Advani to pitch for Varun. The meeting began around 11.30 am and continued till 1.30 pm with most of the discussion centred on Vidisha.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, state Sangh strongman Kaptan Singh Solanki, and Satya Narain Jatiya argued for the three probables the state election panel had picked for the seat — state ministers Laxmikant Sharma and Ram Pal Singh, and Shivraj’s wife Sadhana.

The central unit had suggested only one name: Varun.

“Sadhana Singh’s name was mentioned but Shivraj himself argued mostly in favour of the other two. He did not want to be seen promoting his wife,” a senior leader said.

Though Advani backed Varun, Vajpayee reportedly said the state unit’s resistance should be taken into account. In the end, Rajnath decided against Varun.

A BJP source said the winning argument was: “You either have a local candidate or a national-level leader from Vidisha. Varun falls in neither category.”

The Sangh has been unhappy with Advani’s interference in such routine matters as candidate selection for a bypoll. Swaraj’s name had been suggested as an alternative to Varun’s but the Sangh felt certain Advani would scuttle her candidature.

So, the “local resistance” was conjured up successfully.

“Advani is the biggest loser. Vajpayee has typically sided with the winners in the end. Rajnath is a side beneficiary. It suits him that Advani’s writ doesn’t run in the party any more,” a source said.

The Sangh had asked the usually low-profile Shivraj to peddle the line that the local unit was against Varun’s candidature. The district BJP in Vidisha met last week and announced that it would settle for a local candidate alone.

After meeting Vajpayee, Advani and Rajnath, the chief minister called the state election committee meeting that picked Sadhana, Ram Pal and Laxmikant.