New Delhi, August 31
A day after RSS reassured itself that it had succeeded in putting the BJP house in order and ended all the infighting and bickering, the party was back again in the news here today for all the wrong reasons.
Breaking the myth of bonhomie and camraderie in BJP assiduously built over five days by RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat and Madan Das Devi, party vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal fired a fresh salvo today questioning Jaswant Singh’s expulsion. Khandelwal sent copies of his letter to president Rajnath Singh, LK Advani and Bhagwat asking for revoking Jaswant’s expulsion on the grounds that “proper procedure was not followed,” and alleged “ganging up of a section of leaders” against
Jaswant.
n Party vice-president questions Jaswant’s expulsion
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Shourie meets Atal Bihari Vajpayee
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Sushma fails to persuade Jaswant to relinquish PAC post
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Raje fails to keep appointment with Venkaiah Naidu, instead sends son Dushyant |
Simultaneously, BJP MP Arun Shourie, a well-known and bitter critic of Advani, met former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, giving rise to speculations that Atal’s men working against the Advani band enjoy the blessings of the former Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj met Jaswant Singh. This is perhaps the first meeting any top BJP leader held with Jaswant since he was expelled from the party in Shimla on August 19. But Sushma failed to persuade Jaswant to relinquish his position as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, a position normally reserved for equivalent of Sushma. This post was handed down to Jaswant before August 19 ostensibly to assuage his hurt feelings.
In the same sequence of events, Advani went to see Speaker Meira Kumar giving rise to speculations that he raised the issue of Jaswant with the Speaker. But sources close to him denied this, saying: “The Speaker had called
up Advani and invited him over for a cup of tea.”
On the other side, former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje again defied the high command. Pleading viral fever, she failed to keep her appointment with BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, conveying the impression that she is resisting quitting the post of BJP legislative party leader in Rajasthan.
Instead she sent son Dushyant Singh to Venkaiah with a list of preconditions for acceding to the high command request. These include revoking suspension of her loyal MLAs, her right to choose her successor and an important position for her here at the Centre. Sources believe she may recover from illness soon as her demands are met
Vasundhara’s action coincided with BJP sources dismissing all talks of LK Advani qutting his post of Leader of Opposition in Parliament in the near future. “All this talk of Advani resigning is a lot of humbug,” said a senior party leader today. “Atal/Advani played an important role in bringing this party to power. Advani is not just the LoP but also the topmost leader of our party. Advani will take entire decision. We are proud of his leadership,” a party leader said.
This assertion flies in the face of reports that Advani has consented to step down from the post of Leader of Opposition shortly. Not to be outdone Rajnath Singh, whose term is coming to an end in December, also denied in Ghaziabad any plans of quitting at least for the time being. He was replying to newsmen’s queries to this effect in his constituency.
The RSS chief spent five days here meeting each BJP leader, some more than once. All acknowledged that the party was going through a crisis of confidence and bitter infighting between its senior leaders. After hectic parleys, Devi who along with Bhagwat met Advani for breakfast at the latter’s residence yesterday morning had pronounced that the BJP had now recovered from its illness and all outstanding issues resolved. A day later it was back to square one.
