New Delhi, September 20
Strategies within the Bharatiya Janata Party are being drawn and redrawn and at stake is the party presidentship.

The battle of control over the BJP has assumed new dimensions, with Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi sticking to his resignation and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asking him to maintain status quo till his return to the Capital.

BJP leaders like Mr Shanta Kumar, known to be a critic of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, met Dr Joshi today. Political circles view this meeting as significant, particularly in the backdrop of circumstances in which Mr Shanta Kumar had to make an exit from the Vajpayee Cabinet.

Equally important is a meeting Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Acharya Giriraj Kishore had with Dr Joshi yesterday. The VHP in general and Acharya Kishore in particular have of late gone hammer and tongs against Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani for their alleged “failure” in the construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

It is understood that the VHP is backing up Dr Joshi vis-a-vis Mr Advani. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has a divergent stand on the issue. The RSS is understood to be with Mr Advani in the political chess being played between Mr Advani and Dr Joshi. The Sangh believes that making Dr Joshi the BJP President would lead to polarisation of cadres.

When Mr Vajpayee returns from his foreign trip in about 10 days, he will have to be at his best persuasive skills to convince Dr Joshi to take back his resignation. However, it will definitely not be an easy task for him as both the HRD Minister as well as his old political rival, Mr Advani, are keen to have reins of the BJP in their hands.

Mr Vajpayee made a significant observation in New York today where he is reported to have commented that he would take the decision on Dr Joshi’s resignation after consulting his colleagues. Political observers here see today’s averment of the Prime Minister as being subtly different from his yesterday’s remark that Dr Joshi’s resignation was “a decision taken in haste”.

The issue of Dr Joshi’s resignation would be topping the agenda of the Prime Minister after his return here from his foreign tour.

Since the BJP’s organisational and presidential elections are due in the next two months or so, the battle between Dr Joshi and Mr Advani, who has the reins of the party indirectly in his hands, is going to unfold in the coming weeks.

Mr Advani, who is a cerebral 

politician, is playing his cards dexterously as he is not engaging Dr Joshi directly.

Mr Advani would love to see the present incumbent, Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu, continue, but Dr Joshi has an enviable task as he himself is candidate.

With the Rai Bareli special court absolving Mr Advani and holding Dr Joshi prima facie responsible for the demolition of the Babri mosque on December 6, 1992, the latter appears to be on a sticky wicket.

Dr Joshi’s resignation notwithstanding, Mr Advani has emerged as the unchallenged leader of the BJP.

It was Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh which had pitchforked Mr Advani as part of a troika of leaders of the BJP along with Mr Vajpayee and Dr Joshi in the late eighties and early nineties.

The Rae Bareli court’s verdict yesterday in the Ayodhya case has now increased the Deputy Prime Minister’s acceptability as Mr Vajpayee’s successor in future.

Ironically, Dr Joshi, who was the part of the troika, today stands isolated, both in the party and the government, as his resignation from the Council of Ministers may eventually keep him out of the levers of power, which would inevitably erode his base in the party.

But the real test would be in the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states, four of which are northern Hindi-speaking states, which have been exempted from holding organisational elections.