JUNE 12- A day after he quit key leadership posts and hit out at his colleagues, veteran L.K. Advani Tuesday made a dramatic u-turn after the RSS intervened to end the BJP’s worst ever crisis that could have harmed its political prospects ahead of the 2014 polls.
Advani’s decision to relent was immediately hailed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
In a tweet, Modi said: “I had said yesterday that Advani ji will not disappoint lakhs of Karyakartas. Today, I whole heartedly welcome his decision.”
The announcement that Advani would stay on was made at his residence by BJP president Rajnath Singh and other party leaders but the former deputy prime minister did not meet the media.
Making the announcement, Rajnath Singh said: “Today afternoon, Mohan Bhagwat spoke to Advaniji and asked him to… continue in the (party posts in) national interest. Advaniji has decided to accept Bhagwatji’s advise.”
Rajnath Singh’s statement was a tacit admission that the BJP, which Advani helped found in 1980 along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had failed to win him over after he quit party posts in a huff for ignoring his concerns and naming Narendra Modi as head of the party election campaign committee, and it was the RSS that still calls the shot.
The statement by Rajnath Singh also contradicted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s earlier stand that the RSS had no role to play in Advani’s resignation. Sources said that Advani was miffed at the RSS extending support to the Gujarat chief minister as the BJP’s face to lead the party in the Lok Sabha elections.
“On behalf of the party, I assured Advaniji that his concerns regarding the functioning of the party would be addressed and I will discuss the modalities of addressing these concerns with him,” said Rajnath Singh, one of the most vocal backers of Modi.
The BJP president was flanked by Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Uma Bharati and other senior leaders.
The BJP decision to elavate Modi, 62, which was made Sunday at a party conclave in Goa, makes the Gujarat chief minister the face of the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections – a la Advani in 2009.
