Modi sickness hits Goa beach - Advani stays away on first day, CM backers pin hope on Sangh directive
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN Panjim, June 7: L.K. Advani managed to cast a pall on the opening day of the BJP’s session in Goa where Narendra Modi was expected to be anointed the party’s spearhead for the next general election. Advani did not show up for today’s office-bearers’ meeting on the eve of the two-day national executive session because of a “stomach upset and weakness”. Late tonight, a source said Advani might skip the entire three-day event. The source said a decision on Advani’s trip to Goa would be taken tomorrow morning at 10, “depending on medical advice and his condition that does not appear bright”. If Advani does skip the full session, it will be the first time he would have kept away from such an event since the BJP was formed in 1980. The expectation here was that Advani, who stepped into patriarchal shoes after ill health kept Atal Bihari Vajpayee from public life, would personally ratify the move to anoint Modi as head of the campaign committee for the approaching general election. Sushma Swaraj, Advani’s closest political confidant, reportedly stressed to party president Rajnath Singh that he must not announce anything “major” in the absence of the veteran. She herself made a point by arriving late at the office-bearers’ meeting this afternoon. Advani also ensured that his loyalists Uma Bharti, Jaswant Singh, Shatrughan Sinha and B.C. Khanduri stayed away in “solidarity”. An Uttar Pradesh MP, Yogi Adityanath, brought cheer by rooting for Advani for Prime Minister. Other than Sushma and Adityanath, few of these acolytes are political heavy-hitters but they did manage to spoil the mood. “The mood inside was dismal. We can’t believe the Advani-Modi vibes are so bad,” a source said. BJP sources said the RSS could be the only catalyst now. The Sangh has decided to “bless” Modi’s projection. Sources said Sangh functionaries were “closely watching” Advani’s responses. If they concluded it was not “worth their while” indulging Advani, they could “direct” Rajnath to announce Modi’s name as the campaign panel head in the next two days. “The Sangh is not amused,” a source said. RSS joint general secretary Suresh Soni had met Rajnath on Thursday. Soni is said to have agreed “in principle” to Modi’s anointment. M. Venkaiah Naidu today told journalists that Advani was “unwell”. A member of Advani’s family called Rajnath yesterday and said he felt “weak” from the Delhi heat and would skip the first day’s meeting. “It would be untrue to say that Advani is not disturbed with the kind of drum-beating (for Modi as the party’s candidate for Prime Minister) that is going on,” a party source said. “Remember, this is a country where (then Congress president) Dev Kant Barooah had said, ‘India is Indira, Indira is India’ (during the Emergency). Indira was routed in the elections that followed.” The source added: “In Atalji’s case, the process happened naturally and had a flavour that is cherished even today. Drum-beating does not necessarily ensure electoral success.” A minority in the BJP believes that Modi’s projection could see either a spurt in seats, or stagnation and even a fall, especially if the Muslims rallied behind the Congress. Advani’s absence did not deter Modi’s growing band of cheerleaders today. Last evening, the meeting’s host and Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar had started the chorus in favour of his Gujarat counterpart’s elevation. In 2009, Parrikar, short-listed by the Sangh as a candidate for BJP president, had blown his prospects by comparing Advani to “pickle gone sour” and advising him to ride into the political sunset. Smriti Irani, Rajya Sabha member and the central BJP’s minder for Goa, has claimed a “groundswell of positive sentiments” in Modi’s favour. Ironically, Advani was Modi’s prime endorser when the Gujarat chief minister was up against the wall 11 years ago. That too was in Goa and Modi’s continuance as chief minister was opposed by then Prime Minister Vajpayee. On the eve of the April 2002 national executive meeting, BJP ally Telugu Desam had lobbed a bombshell by demanding Modi’s removal in view of the February-March violence against Muslims in Gujarat. Brajesh Mishra, Vajpayee’s closest aide in the Prime Minister’s Office, had suggested that Modi’s removal was a given. Modi stayed away from the first day’s meeting to facilitate “free and frank” discussions. To Vajpayee’s shock, his closest political confidant, Pramod Mahajan, gave the first shout in Modi’s favour saying he would not quit no matter who wanted him to. The rest of the pack followed. Vajpayee stood isolated. Advani had put up the members to back Modi. Over a decade later, the roles have reversed in Goa. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130608/jsp/frontpage/story_16985292.jsp#.UbMB6_K-ZaU