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BJP : Leadership issue crops up again |
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The leadership issue has come back to haunt the Bharatiya Janata Party after its vice president, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, declared that a second generation leader will lead the party in the next general election. Though Naqvi made this remark in Rampur, it created ripples in New Delhi. He immediately rushed back to the capital and clarified that he had not said anything new, and that party president L.K.Advani had himself said so some time ago.
However, there was a strong feeling in the party that there was no need for Naqvi to rake up this issue again, especially at a time when the dust was setting over RSS chief K.S.Sudarashan’s controversial TV interview in which he had suggested a change of guard in the BJP. Senior BJP leaders straightaway got down to damage control exercise. Party vice-president Venkaiah Naidu said, “The elections are still nearly four years away. Why talk about them now ?”
But Sushma Swaraj clarified that Naqvi was merely quoting something which Advani has said some time ago. “Since then, much has changed,” she said. Naqvi took care not to create the impression that he was raising a question mark on the ability of BJP’s two senior most leaders - Vajpayee and Advani.
The controversy over the leadership crisis in the BJP figured at a two-day meeting of top RSS leaders held in New Delhi last week. RSS sources said the meeting discussed the future of the BJP without Vajpayee and Advani. It is learnt that a section of the RSS leadership continues to hold the view that Advani should make way for the generation next in the organization. The meeting discussed RSS chief Sudarshan’s reported observation that he wanted both Vajpayee and Advani to allow the second generation leaders to take over the BJP.
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