Senior leaders LK Advani, Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley reportedly want to resist the RSS move to make the party’s Maharashtra chief, Nitin Gadkari, the BJP’s national president.
The buzz in BJP circles is that Delhi is calling Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi but the latter does not want to leave Ahmedabad. Senior leaders LK Advani, Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley reportedly want to resist the RSS move to make the party’s Maharashtra chief, Nitin Gadkari, the BJP’s national president. To do that they need to present an option the RSS will not refuse. Modi fits the bill by being acceptable even to Mohan Bhagwat.
But, to their disappointment, Modi is refusing to take over the party right now. He would rather inherit LK Advani’s legacy as leader of opposition, sources said.
Modi is reportedly resisting the move for three reasons. First, he wants to be in Gujarat for the grand Swarnim Gujarat celebrations in May 2010. Second, the rift between the party’s top and middle level leadership is such that Modi feels it is beyond him to control the warring factions.
Last, but not the least, the saffron poster boy is used to functioning independently. “As BJP president, he will need consensus of all sections; but as leader of Opposition he’ll have greater autonomy in functioning. If he fails to restore order in the party immediately after taking over, it will be a slur on his political career. His forays outside Gujarat during the Lok Sabha elections were not particularly appreciated,” a senior source in the party said.
However, rumour mills are working overtime. The latest buzz is Modi is moving to Delhi “anytime now, if not as president, then as leader of Opposition,” an insider says.
This speculation was fuelled by RSS leader Ram Madhav’s statement that LK Advani will step down early next year after the new president takes over.
The buzz about Modi gained speed after Bhagwat sent Gadkari to Delhi last week. “Senior leaders like former Goa chief minister Manohar Panicker, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivrajsinh Chauhan and Gopinath Munde were in the running, but they have been overlooked for a small fry like Gadkari. BJP leaders are incensed at such assertion from RSS,” a senior political observer in the BJP said.
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