NEW DELHI, June 10:
BJP was in deep crisis today as its patriarch L K Advani resigned from all the party posts in protest against the elevation of Narendra Modi, stunning the organisation he had founded and nurtured and leaving its allies in the NDA in discomfort.
85-year-old Advani, the tallest leader after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, resigned from all main fora of the party — Parliamentary Board, National Executive and Election Committee, a day after the party ignored his reservations against Modi and anointed the Gujarat Chief Minister as BJP’s campaign chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
In a strongly-worded resignation letter to party President Rajnath Singh, Advani rued that the BJP was no longer the “same idealistic party” created by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Deendayal Upadhyaya, Nanaji Deshmukh and Vajpayee.
Taken aback by Advani’s surprise action, BJP leaders held parleys through the day and met in Parliamentary Board late in the night, deciding to reject his resignation, saying his “sage advice” and “guidance” was required now “more than ever before”.
Armed with the Parliamentary Board’s unanimous resolution, a clutch of leaders — Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ananth Kumar — drove to Advani’s residence in a bid to persuade him to withdraw his resignation.
Earlier in the day, a number of leaders including Swaraj, Kumar, Prasad, S S Ahluwalia, M Venkaiah Naidu and V K Malhotra met Advani to request him to reverse his decision but he clearly told them that there was no going back.
Advani, who gave his resignation in the morning, made it public just after Rajnath Singh met him at his residence. He had also made it clear to Singh that he should not bring Modi, who was earlier slated to go with BJP chief to brief Advani on the deliberations of the National Executive in Goa.
“The Parliamentary Board is of the opinion that ever since the inception of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Advani has been our leader and guide. That role inevitably belongs to him. The party and nation needs his sage advice and guidance today more than ever before. The Parliamentary Board decided to reject the resignation of Sh Advani ji,” the resolution said.
In the one-page resignation, Advani said, “For some time I have been finding it difficult to reconcile either with the current functioning of the party, or the direction in which it is going. Most leaders of ours are now concerned just with their personal agendas.”
Earlier, Sushma, after meeting Advani seperately, said, “I feel he will agree to withdraw his resignation. I am confident about it.”
Ravi Shankar Prasad, who also met Advani separately, said, “the party’s respect is in Advani’s respect. He is our senior leader. Hopefully, a way out will be found out and he will agree to withdraw his resignation.”
Advani had skipped the three-day deliberations of the party in Goa over the weekend citing health reasons. This was the first time Advani had stayed away from the National Executive and the office bearers’ meeting prior to it.
Important BJP ally JD(U), already not enthused by Modi’s elevation, received with surprise Advani’s decision and indicated that it will have to review its position in the wake of these developments.
Advani’s letter was delivered in person to Rajnath Singh at 11 am. Singh rushed to his house and met him at 1230 hrs.
In the evening, Modi tweeted “Had a detailed conversation with Advani ji on phone. Urged him to change his decision. I hope he will not disappoint lakhs of Karyakartas.”
Significantly, Advani continues to be Chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Party and Working Chairman of NDA.
In the midst of media speculation over his absence that was ascribed to his reservations over Modi’s elevation, the Gujarat Chief Minister claimed yesterday that he had talked to Advani and got his blessings.
Party leaders, including President Rajnath Singh, had put a brave face, saying it was ill health that kept Advani away from the Goa deliberations.
“Whatever has happened has happened on the basis of consensus,” Singh had said yesterday after declaring Modi as BJP’s election campaign chief.
JD(U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has strong reservations over Modi being projected as Prime Ministerial candidate, told reporters in Patna that his party will discuss all aspects of the Goa decision and come out with its stand on the matter.
“BJP has taken a decision. Our party will meet and discuss the issue. We will come out with our stand,” he said without elaborating.
His party President Sharad Yadav said Advani’s resignation was a serious issue and not good for NDA’s health. JD (U) will convene its own meeting and decide how to go ahead, he said.
BJP’s oldest ally, Shiv Sena said Advani’s decision was painful and “one cannot think of NDA or BJP without Advaniji.”
Interestingly, the editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ today welcomed Modi’s elevation and said that “85-year old leadership” cannot bring BJP to power in Delhi.
“The average age of Advani and his other colleagues in the party is 85 years. The 85-year-old leadership cannot bring the BJP to power in Delhi. Therefore, if a new tactic is being launched by pushing Modi forward, it should be welcomed,” the editorial said.
Another ally, Akali Dal, which has whole-heartedly welcomed Modi’s elevation, was noncommittal over Advani’s decision, saying it was internal matter of the BJP.
The RSS described Advani’s decision as unfortunate and hoped the party leaders will persuade him to take it back.
It is for the third time in eight years today that BJP leader L K Advani has resigned from top party posts including once over the huge controversy over his praise of Pakistan’s founding father Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
85-year-old Advani, a founder member of BJP, had first resigned as party president on June seven, 2005 following widespread criticism from the RSS and right wing outwits over his remarks praising Jinnah during his six-day visit to Pakistan. Advani had described Jinnah as a “secular” leader.
Advani, whose trip to Pakistan was seen as an attempt to reposition himself politically and to shed the hardline tag and recast himself as a moderate more palatable to a wider electorate, had spoken of Jinnah’s “forceful espousal of a secular State in which every citizen would be free to practice his own religion”.
He had described Jinnah as one of the “very few who actually create history”.
Advani, however, withdrew his resignation from the party chief’s post after intense parleys, ending a four-day long leadership crisis in the opposition party.
Despite the resolution of the crisis, ties remained strained between Advani and the RSS, the party’s fountainhead.
Less than seven months after he withdrew his resignation, Advani stepped down as party president on December 31, 2005 bringing to an end the controversy triggered by his praise of Jinnah. He was succeeded by the current party President Rajnath Singh.
The formal resolution of the crisis in June took place at a meeting of the BJP parliamentary board and central office-bearers to which the Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states were also invited.
A one-page resolution adopted at the meeting to which Advani was also a party blamed Jinnah for the Partition and the violence that followed.(PTI)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel