Barely 36 hours after he resigned from all posts he
occupied in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Lal Krishna Advani has snatched a
tactical victory from the jaws of retirement. The biggest crisis in the BJP's
history may have appeared to be no more than an extended sulk, but Advani
stayed on top of the twists and turns of the resolution process to wring out
important concessions from the party's parent organisation, the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), on the way the party is run. The interface between the
BJP and RSS came out from behind the shadows as the crisis was resolved.
Advani has clipped the wings of the triumvirate
that comprises BJP president Rajnath Singh, RSS pointperson in the BJP Suresh
Soni, and BJP general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal. In the process Advani
has refurbished somewhat his ties with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and his protege
Nitin Gadkari, creating a counterbalancing axis of his own that also includes
RSS general secretary Bhaiyaji Joshi.
Advani's greatest success-and the condition on
which his return was predicated-was to make Gadkari and Bhaiyaji agree that
they would keep him abreast of all decision making, a gamechanger that was then
communicated to Rajnath. RSS chief Bhagwat, whose advice in late 2011 to Advani
on making way for younger blood hasn't stopped resonating in the party, was
also brought on board the new saffron order of things by Gadkari.
Advani also managed to restrict the influence of
Narendra Modi, following his recent appointment as campaign committee chief, by
reiterating the importance of the central election committee.
In an attempt to mollify the sulking patriarch, BJP
president Rajnath Singh said: "Whenever he (Advani) raises any concerns
related to the party, I will personally address them." Singh did deliver a
subtle message to Advani, saying that he "had decided to abide by the
decision of the parliamentary board (to take back his resignation)".
By extension, it meant that Advani will have to
accept the party's decision to elevate Modi as the chairman of the election
campaign committee. Even though Singh and the RSS spared no effort in imploring
Advani to take back his resignation, they made it clear that the decision to
appoint Modi as the campaign in-charge was irreversible.
BJP vice-president Prabhat
Jha told that, BJP have the utmost respect for Advaniji, but the national
executive's decision also has to be respected. As a concession, the RSS and the
party leadership have assured Advani that the decision on the BJP's prime
ministerial candidate will be kept opend-ended.
They assured him that he would be consulted in
detail when the time for the decision comes. Advani has also supposedly been
assured of a dominant say in the distribution of tickets, through the central
election committee.
Some believe this could be a way of keeping a
subtle check on the influence of Narendra Modi. Unlike previous campaign
committee chairmen like Pramod Mahajan (2004) and Arun Jaitley (2009), Modi is
not just the campaign in-charge, he will also be the chief campaigner of the
party. The deal between Advani and the party leadership was brokered by the RSS.
RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat spoke to Advani. A critical role in bringing
Advani to an agreement was played by RSS protege and former BJP president Nitin
Gadkari. Gadkari arrived in Delhi
Another part of the agreement could be a
modification in the manner in which RSS-BJP relations are being managed. One of
Advani's demands were supposedly that the influence of RSS leader Suresh Soni
be checked. This suits Gadkari and Bhagwat as well as Soni had played a
critical role in nixing the former's second term as BJP president.
The main grouse which prompted Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) patriarch L.K. Advani to resign on Monday is the influence the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) continues to wield in party affairs but his
desperate act, ironically, ended up reinforcing the RSS's power over the BJP.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat personally intervened in
the matter, which compelled Advani to kiss and make up with BJP president
Rajnath Singh. From here on, Rajnath Singh will have to take Advani on board
viz major decisions. This was communicated by Bhagwat to Rajnath. However, Advani
might have been able to achieve a subtle change in the manner in which RSS-BJP
relations are being managed.
Party sources reveal that even though Advani has
been engaged in a tug-of-war with the RSS, his antipathy is particularly
focused on a faction of the organisation headed by Suresh Soni who is currently
number three in the Sangh hierarchy.
It is believed that Advani's discontent has been
amplified over the past three months as party affairs are being dominated by a
troika of Soni, his protege Ram Lal who is the BJP's general secretary (organisation),
and Rajnath Singh, who is also known to be close to Soni. This troika has
played a crucial role in Narendra Modi's rise within the party in the past few
months.
Soni is said to have played a critical role in
scuttling Advani's proposal of including Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan in the parliamentary board, as he had an old axe to grind with
him.
Sources said that an unsaid aspect of the 'peace
deal' between Advani, the RSS and the party leadership, is that Soni's wings
will be clipped. This can be seen from the crucial role played by not just
Bhagwat, but also his protégé Nitin Gadkari and RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy , in brokering the deal.
This could involve a repeat of a formula prepared
by Gadkari during his presidency, whereby RSS-BJP relations are managed not
just by Soni, but by a collegium which comprises RSS Sarkaryavah Suresh 'Bhaiyaji'
Joshi and Sah Sarkaryavah Dattatreya Hosabale, in addition to Soni.
This arrangement could also bring about a subtle
rapproachment between Advani on one hand and Bhagwat and Gadkari on the other.
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