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BJP ready to face elections without PM candidate

	October 01, 2007

The three-day national conclave of the BJP ended in Bhopal on Sept. 23 without reaching a consensus on the prime-ministerial candidate of the party in the next Lok Sabha elections. This is especially embarrassing for the BJP as it had fought the past three Lok Sabha elections, mocking the Congress and other parties for not projecting their prime-ministerial candidate. The issue is all the more important as the party is expecting mid-term elections any time in view of the unresolved standoff between the Congress and the Left parties over the Indo-US nuclear deal.



The leadership issue was not on the agenda of the conclave but it was widely speculated that the party would project some¬body as the Prime Ministerial candidate in view of the prospect of mid-term elections. But BJP leaders kept on giving contradic¬tory statements on who would lead the party in case snap polls become a reality.



Ever since the BJP came into being in 1980, this was the first time that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee failed to attend a national executive meet. Owing to his ill health, his doctors advised him to take rest. Vajpayee’s absence from the conclave gave rise to speculation that Advani would be finally projected as the new leader of the party.



To make up for his absence, Vajpayee on the first day of the conclave sent his message to the members of the national executive. Vajpayee said in the message: “I utterly wished to attend the conclave but I am sorry that I am unable to do so. There is instability and uncertainty at the Centre. The country’s military capability seems to be at stake. A dejected government at the Centre is attacking the sentiments of the people. In such circumstances, our responsibility has increased all the more. People have hopes from us. We cannot neglect the hopes of masses and have to fulfil them. Very soon I will be back with you all.”



BJP leaders are trying to read between the lines of Vaj¬payee’s message. The questions puzzling them are : Vajpayee has said that he will be back. So does that mean he will again take charge of the party? He says that our own people have created hurdles. Is he dejected with the party and has decided to call it a day? He says youth should come forward. Is he urging young leaders to take charge of the party?



Amid reports of an intense power struggle raging within the BJP, L.K. Advani attempted damage control on Sunday, Sept. 23.



“I was happy to find that Vajpayee’s health had improved considerably since I last met him. I felt gratified when Rajnath¬ji showed me Atalji’s message saying he would be in our midst before long. Let us all pray that this happens very soon and he continues to lead and guide us as in the past,” the Leader of Opposition told members of the BJP national executive on the concluding day of its meet.



The move was apparently necessitated by the realisation that the public impression about a succession battle and sharp divi¬sions in the saffron party would adversely affect its image at a time when mid-term polls appear to be in the offing.





BJP signals it is ready for polls



Observers say the BJP message from Bhopal was loud and clear: it is ready to face the electoral challenge ahead with the help of a strengthened and expanded National Democratic Alliance to again emerge as a claimant to power at the Centre.



Addressing a press conference, BJP president Rajnath Singh expressed the hope that very soon some parties would enter into a formal alliance with the BJP.



This message was also reflected in the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, at the conclud¬ing session of the party conclave. “I can say without hesitation that it is in Bhopal that our party has left the after-effects of the 2004 elections fully and firmly behind. The BJP is no longer in the despondent mood that set in after the 2004 Lok Sabha defeat.”



Both Singh and Advani identified the Left parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress itself as desta¬bilising forces in the polity - the DMK for its remarks on Ramar Sethu, and the Left and the Congress for the open verbal duel on the nuclear deal. Advani charged the Congress with deserting its coalition dharma by sticking to the nuclear deal in spite of stiff opposition by the Left.



The party president identified the issues to be highlighted: the stability crisis, misgovernance by the UPA, mishandling of terrorism and internal security issues, appeasement of minorities and ‘pseudo-secularism.’





Rajnath’s son quits UP youth wing post



Pankaj Singh, the son of BJP president Rajnath Singh, who was appointed president of the Uttar Pradesh unit of he BJP Yuva Morcha on Sept. 24, submitted his resignation from the post on Thursday, Sept. 27. State BJP chief Ramapati Ram Tripathi, who had announced his appointment, confirmed that Pankaj had for¬warded his resignation. According to Tripathi, Pankaj wants to serve the party as a worker, but without any organisational post.



Pankaj’s appointment had raised a controversy in the BJP as it was being seen as promoting dynasty politics. The appointment had left BJP leadership in a fix as the party itself as been accusing the Congress of promoting a dynasty.





Jana Krishnamurthy passes away



K. Jana Krishnamurthy, one of the founder-leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, died in Chennai on Sept. 25 after pro¬longed illness. He was 79.



Krishnamurthy, whose association with the Rashtriya Swayam¬sevak Sangh began from his student days, gave up his law prac¬tice and joined the Bharatiya Jan Sangh as a full timer on the call of Atal Bihari Vajpayee immediately after the death of the then BJS president Deendayal Upadhyaya in February 1968.



After the formation of the BJP, Krishnamurthy occupied different positions at the national level and for about 15 years he was the vice-president of the party. When Bangaru Laxman quit in March 2001 following the “Tehelka tapes” controversy, he became the party president and held the post till June 2002 when he was succeeded by M. Venkaiah Naidu.



Elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in April 2002, Krishnamurthy became the Union Law and Justice Minister two months later. He held the post till January 2003.





BJP Minister offers to resign in Karnataka



In a move to mend fences with the Janata Dal (Secular), the BJP has obtained the resignation of Tourism Minister B. Sriramu¬lu, who was being portrayed by JD(S) president H.D. Devegowda as the hurdle to talks on power transfer. Sriramulu had filed a murder complaint against Deve Gowda’s son and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.



Sriramulu gave his party leader and CM-in-waiting B S Ye¬diyurappa a single-line resignation letter addressed to Kumaras¬wamy on Sept. 29, a little over an hour after central BJP leader in charge of Karnataka Yashwant Sinha had announced that the Tourism Minister had been called for discussions.



Deve Gowda who was scheduled to hold power transfer talks with Sinha and BJP President Rajnath Singh on September 26 had walked away from the talks after Sriramulu filed the complaint against the Chief Minister.



Gowda then took the stand that he would not discuss the power transfer issue until BJP national leaders created an at¬mosphere conducive for talks.



Sinha said he was confident the power sharing agreement would be adhered to by the JD(S). He also said the JD(S) must not link the power transfer issue with the issue of the police com¬plaint filed by Sriramulu. The BJP would be united in backing the CM candidature of Deputy Chief Minister Yediyurappa, Sinha said.



BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the power transfer is on course and Yediyurappa will be the new Chief Minister.





Time not ripe for alliance with BJP : Jayalalithaa



All India Anna DMK chief Jayalalithaa has said that the time is not ripe for an alliance with the BJP. In an interview with a TV news channel, she said, “The All India Anna DMK is not in a hurry to forge an alliance with any political party at this time.”



Asked whether Lok Sabha polls were round the corner, she said: “The situation is fluid. We do not know when the elections will take place. We do not know whether there will be general elections and simultaneous Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. We will discuss the issue of alliance at the time of elections.”



On DMK chief M.Karunanidhi’s charge that the AIADMK, along with the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, was out to stall the Sethusa¬mudram project using the Ram Setu issue, she said: “I’m not a part of the Sangh Parivar. This accusation is not relevant as far as my party is concerned.”



At the BJP’s just concluded national executive meeting in Bhopal, party chief Rajnath Singh had mentioned that the BJP was looking forward to forging new alliances as talks were on with the AIADMK, and some other parties like the AGP.