New Delhi, June 10
Senior BJP leader LK Advani’s decision to resign from party panels evoked a sympathetic reaction from the allies, with Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Shiv Sena saying the development would cast a shadow on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), while the Congress interpreted the move as a repercussion of Narendra Modi’s elevation as chief of the election campaign committee.

JD-U chief and NDA convener Sharad Yadav described Advani's resignation as a serious issue that did not augur well for the BJP-led coalition. Stating that he was deeply saddened by the resignation, Yadav said the NDA was forged with the efforts of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, who is its working president since Vajpayee has not been keeping well.

“His (Advani) resignation in my opinion is a serious issue and we will convene our own party meeting to discuss the matter... Advanji's resignation is not good for NDA's health,” Yadav said reacting to the development.

Shiv Sena, another key ally and one of the oldest members of the NDA, said Advani's resignation was “painful” as his contribution in building the BJP, along with Vajpayee, was invaluable both for the BJP and the NDA. Sena spokesman and MP Sanjay Rout was quoted by PTI as saying, “Uddhav Thackeray (Sena president) has said that the contribution of Advani and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in building the party was invaluable for both BJP and the NDA. One cannot think of NDA or the BJP without Advaniji.” Rout also said he would try to persuade Advani to withdraw his resignation.

On its part, the Congress characterised Modi's appointment as the poll campaign committee chief as the beginning of BJP's complete degeneration especially since it came about in an “unusual manner”. “This is the beginning of the complete degeneration of the BJP. It will have its own repercussions,” Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said, but preferred not to offer any direct comment on Advani’s resignation.

“We have nothing to say on this. This is between the BJP and the person concerned to think and decide. We had already said that this (Modi's elevation) will have many repercussions,” he said.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said Advani was a man who took the BJP tally from two seats in the Lok Sabha in 1984 to 182 in 1996. “If this person has demanded some more time and asked to wait for a while, or demanded setting up of two committees, including one headed by former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, what was the problem? What was the hurry? After all, they were not going to miss a plane,” he said.