M A I N   N E W S

Joshi falls in line over Modi seat
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 9
Murli Manohar Joshi, the man in the eye of an apparent storm within the BJP, has denied any rift in the party leadership over the Varanasi seat. The veteran leader said he was a disciplined soldier of the party and would accept the March 13 decision of the parliamentary board on the prestigious constituency in the Hindu heartland.

Similar views were expressed by senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, who is also believed to have questioned party president Rajnath Singh yesterday over the ticket distribution and alliance with “dubious parties” when there was a “Modi wave in the country”.

“When candidates for Uttar Pradesh were not even discussed, where is the question of a rift?” she said.

The RSS, party’s ideological fountainhead, however, seemed worried about the reported row over the Varanasi seat. “We are worried...But we feel they (BJP) are experienced enough. They are capable. They will solve the problem,” RSS leader Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi was quoted as saying in Bangalore.

The fight within the party is not for “one or two seats”, but the way Modi and party president Rajnath Singh are running the show, pushing senior leaders such as Sushma, Joshi and veteran LK Advani almost on the sidelines. “It is a tussle for survival, to ascertain hierarchy and positioning within the party,” sources say. “Although senior leaders like Sushma, Advani and Joshi appear to have more or less conceded to the supremacy of Modi in the party, their diluting say even on the issue from where they will contest, is disturbing,” they add. Modi’s key aide Amit Shah reportedly wants the party’s PM candidate to contest from the temple town to send the right message across the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

If Joshi is shifted from Varanasi, the constituency he currently holds, it would be a step down for him. Joshi, who is considered close to the RSS, is believed to have been asked to shift to Lucknow, but it seems Rajnath is keen on contesting from there, fearing an AAP effect in Ghaziabad-the NCR seat he currently holds.

Though the BJP is relying on development plank this time, a section in the party feels if Modi contests from Varanasi, it will also send a positive message to those for whom “Hindutva” is still an important issue.