Advani

New Delhi, Sept. 20: The RSS has summoned L.K. Advani to Nagpur tomorrow in an attempt to extract a categorical assurance that he will not position himself as the BJP’s candidate for Prime Minister during his yatra against corruption, sources said.

If Advani shows signs of hesitation, the message from Resham Bagh — where the RSS is headquartered — might be that he should not expect help from the parivar, including the BJP. Without that, his yatra would be “meaningless”, a source added.

However, if the RSS manages to convince Advani, the assurance is expected to come in a formal address he will make at the party’s national executive that meets here on September 30 and October 1. Advani is expected to state that his yatra is a political campaign against the UPA’s “graft” and has nothing to do with who will lead the BJP in the next general election.

Advani will meet RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat as well as BJP president Nitin Gadkari who is recuperating at his family home in Nagpur after a surgery.

The sources said the Sangh was miffed with the BJP veteran for several reasons. First, despite clear hints that Advani should not go on a yatra and deepen the confusion surrounding competing leadership in the party, he announced his decision. Once the veteran served the BJP and the parivar with a fait accompli, they had no choice but to officially back him.

Second, the RSS was upset with his contradictory assertions. One day, his blog generated the impression that he was virtually declaring Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister candidate. The next day, he said the issue was wide open.

Last, it is learnt that he was resisting making an assurance in the Sangh template.

At one point, clear hints were dropped that if he would not oblige, he could not expect either the RSS or the BJP to co-operate with his yatra. Without their help, the sources said, Advani would have been forced to call off the roadshow.

A section of the RSS and BJP was still keen he should cry off the yatra.

In Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand, where the BJP has huge stakes in the coming Assembly elections, the regional units are busy with preparations for the battle and see Advani’s programme as a “needless distraction”.

However, the sources said, asking him to cancel the yatra outright might amount to a “huge loss of face” that the RSS does not want to put him through.