War within BJP: Modi’s rise irks Advani, Sushma

Mangalore Today / ITV

Mumbai,May 25: The divide within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is out in the open with veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, skipping the national executive meeting in Mumbai. They have also decided to not attend a rally of the party.

The absence of the senior leaders came as the BJP decided to extend Nitin Gadkari’s tenure as the party president while some leaders strongly advocated the candidature of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as Prime Minister for 2014 general elections.

 

 

Advani on Thursday skipped the national executive where a resolution extending Gadkari’s term was passed.

Meanwhile, former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa arrived at the conclave to mend fences with the leadership and praised Modi, endorsing him as the future Prime Minister.

"Narendra Modi should be the Prime Minister, will appeal to senior leaders, I am not asking for any post for myself," said Yeddyurappa.

Notably, Modi, who had earlier decided to give the national executive a miss, joined it on Thursday after Gadkari’s aide Sanjay Joshi was forced to resign. Gadkari is now slated to share the stage with Modi on Friday.

The party has, however, made attempts to dismiss the reports of Advani sulking over the developments, saying he had prior commitments and his not attending the rally was already known.

"Advani is not angry. He had a prior commitment and his not attending the public rally was known for three days," said BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitaraman.

She further said, "There is no connection between the resolution’s content and him being away. No decision comes through before it passes several layers in the party. Advani is a part of those layers which make decisions in the party."

However, another senior leader, Ravishankar Prasad, had a different reason for Advani to be absent at the programme, saying, "Advani is unwell and despite that, he attended programmes on both days."

The war within the party gave ammunition to the Congress to launch an attack, which slammed the leadership confusion within the BJP.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, "The BJP is short on substance. The top leadership decides to skip their own political rally. There is one president and one super president in the part with a difference. It is a divided house.