New Delhi, November 18
BJP president Rajnath Singh has put off his plan of early retirement following a counsel from his confidants in the party and the Sangh, who reportedly told him that he should not disturb the balance in the organisation lest it should jeopardise the party’s prospects in the Jharkhand assembly elections scheduled to be completed in five phases on December 18.
Sources close to Rajnath indicated here today that he had been prevailed upon to slightly amend his plans to quit sometime later this month and announce the name of Sangh nominee Nitin Gadkari. Now he was likely to do that anytime after December 18.
The winter session of Parliament would also end on December 21. Sangh expects Leader of Opposition LK Advani to announce his retirement on or immediately after that so that the BJP can start with a clean slate in 2010.
“And if the Sangh sticks to its original strategy to use Rajnath’s resignation as a pressure tactic to force Advani to quit, Rajnath may announce his retirement any day after December 18, perhaps even before December 21,” said party insiders. A lot would depend on the signals the Sangh received from the Advani camp about his retirement plans, insiders said.
Sources close to the BJP president said, “Rajnath was told that around one-and-a-half months of his tenure were still left. He could step down a few days before his term ends but doing so now may further demoralise the already sagging morale of the party cadre in Jharkhand.”
In the meantime, both Rajnath and Advani would address some joint rallies with JDU president Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In fact, all parties concerned have been asked to hold their guns till Jharkhand polling is over. That is because the party has big stake in Jharkhand and is hoping to reap a good harvest after a long dry spell.
There are indications that the BJP’s organisational election process may take a couple of months to complete because some major states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka have not completed elections there and formal election of Nitin Gadkari may only be held sometime in February or March next year.
