New Delhi, April 15: The BJP is reconciling itself to the “inevitability” of parting with the Janata Dal (United), knowing well that it faces a “precarious” future on many counts, a source said. The most immediate fallout would be prospective losses for both parties in elections in Bihar and possible gains for the RJD-LJP combine.
“It is inevitable,” the source said, likening the developments to April 1980 when the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (the BJP’s predecessor) pulled out of the Janata Party on the issue of “dual membership”. The socialists in the Janata Party wanted the Jana Sangh to sunder its links with the RSS but A.B. Vajpayee and L.K. Advani refused, got themselves expelled and formed the BJP.
The only difference between 1980 and 2013 is that 33 years ago, the catalyst for the break-up was the Jana Sangh’s ideological parent to whom every party member swore absolute allegiance. Today, an individual, Narendra Modi, forced the ideological wedge. “Certain things cannot be compromised on,” a leader said.
When Vajpayee and Advani walked out of the Janata Party, Advani, in his autobiography My Country My Life, remembered it as a “big relief” that triggered an “invigorating emotion, that of determination”.
Nitish Kumar’s no-Modi warning set off confusion and cross-currents in the BJP, which might have provoked it to put out a statement of “solidarity” with the Gujarat chief minister. But it turned out to be short-lived because party seniors again began batting for Advani as a worthier candidate than Modi.
Senior leader Yashwant Sinha led the chorus of support for Advani. He told journalists this morning: “Advaniji is the senior-most, most respected leader and if he is available to lead the party and the government, that should end all discourse. Everyone should fall in line and work together for the party under his leadership. But that call will have to be taken by Advani, by the party and finally by the NDA.”
Later, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan seconded Sinha in a TV interview. “There is no doubt that Advani is our tallest leader,” he said.
Former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh said: “Advaniji is the seniormost leader of BJP, nobody can question his stature.”
Advani was chargesheeted by the CBI with 20 others under various IPC sections, including fostering of enmity between classes and making imputations that were prejudicial to national integration. A special court had dropped the charges. The decision was upheld by Allahabad High Court. But the CBI contested the ruling in the Supreme Court.
Various parties, including the Congress and the Left, questioned Nitish’s “secular” conviction and asked if he opposed Modi on that score, how could he back Advani who too had failed the test.
Officially, the BJP continued defending Modi. Asked about Sinha’s submissions on Advani, spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said: “He is a leader in his right but he does not represent the parliamentary board that will eventually announce the name of the PM candidate.”
Meenakshi also reminded Nitish that he was railway minister when the Sabarmati Express was set on fire at Godhra in 2002, leading to the violence against Muslims.
