JUNE 18- The Janata Dal (United)’s exit from the NDA has upset BJP patriarch Lal Krishna Advani, who supposedly sees it as the beginning of the end for the NDA. He wants the leadership to take corrective steps, and approach the next round of Lok Sabha polls under a “collective leadership.”
According to sources in the BJP, Advani conveyed his deep disappointment at the split with the JD(U) to party president Rajnath Singh on Sunday. The duo spoke on phone barely a few hours after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and JD(U) president Sharad Yadav announced their decision to pull out of the NDA. “My worst fears have come true,” is what Advani is believed to have told Singh.
The leader is also said to have warned the BJP president that if the BJP goes to the 2014 under the leadership of “one person” it would be the end of the NDA. Needless to say, he was referring to Narendra Modi, whose rapid rise in the party prompted the JD(U) to snap ties with the BJP.
Advani is pained that the BJP appears to be going back to the era of political isolation, which characterised the first decade and a half of its existence.
However, Advani is not giving up and will continue to try influencing party affairs. On Tuesday, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat is expected to call on Advani during his visit to the Capital. The patriarch might reiterate his two key demands: the need to manage RSSBJP relations “differently” and to keep the PM candidate issue open.
