New Delhi, November 14
RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat criticised BJP central leadership calling it “a divided house” amidst indications that the present leadership under L.K. Advani may not take lying down the attempt to totally isolate or ostracise them from the party.

Speaking in Pune, Bhagwat asked the BJP not to forget its roots, saying, “A divided house cannot function properly...they have to know their roots.”

And while claiming on the one hand that the RSS does not interfere in the BJP's functioning, the Sangh chief said in the same breath, "We have told them (BJP) to restore and tighten the party's organisational system and structure and choose a young president having leadership mindset.”

Bhagwat’s criticism of the BJP comes two days after he dispatched his candidate for the party president’s post, Maharashtra state BJP president Nitin Gadkari to BJP headquarters, 11, Ashoka Road, as he monitored its impact from RSS headquarters at Keshav Kunj at Jhandewalan, commented political observers.

Bhagwat’s comments come at a time when insiders indicate a growing uneasiness in the Advani camp over this Sangh move, specially in the quartet of Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitely, M Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar. They see it as a move to completely sideline them.

Sources in the party indicated that for all the apparent pretence of having meekly accepted the RSS diktat of foisting Gadkari, great churning is going in the Advani camp and strategies are being devised how to counter the RSS move.

As a counter strategy the name of Guajrat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the possible successor to Rajnath Singh has been suggested. Modi proponents say he meets all the stated qualifications prescribed by Bhagwat and unlike Gadkari he has a national profile too and, most importantly, he is a Hindutva icon. Therefore, Modi is far more suitable to succeed Rajanth than Gadkari.

Sangh sources dismiss the possibility saying Modi laid demanded a totally free hand brooking no interference from any quarter (implying the Sangh itself) and since this was not acceptable to the Sangh, he has rejected the proposal.

But BJP sources indicated that the Modi chapter is not yet closed and a section in the party may press for his name more vocally and with greater vigour to put the Sangh in a spot, since on the face of it, he meets all the qualifications that Bhagwat and Sangh want in a BJP president here in Delhi.

The election of the president is still more than a month away and sources said one way to embarrass the Sangh is to force an election by putting up a rival candidate against Gadkari. So far the election of the BJP president has been unanimous. This could convey the message that the sailing for RSS nominee may not be as smooth as Bhagwat want sit to be.

Smelling the rival camp gameplan, Sangh camp is also contemplating advancing the whole process considerably. One way of doing this, said an insider is to have Rajnath announce Gadkari as his successor in the near future. This has happened earlier when Advani announced his retirement from party president’s post in 2005 and announced Rajanth as his successor.

This may prevent a possible showdown in the form of a formal election for the highest office of the BJP.