Buzz says Lok Sabha opposition leader role, not BJP top post appeals to CM.
The latest buzz in BJP circles is that LK Advani, Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley are trying hard to get Narendra Modi to the Centre, but it is the Gujarat CM who is reluctant to go.
Quoting reports from Delhi, BJP sources said that the three senior BJP leaders are resisting Maharashtra state BJP chief, Nitin Gadkari’s candidature for the post of national party president. Gadkari is the RSS’s choice for the top BJP post.
In an effort to find another candidate who was as acceptable to the RSS as Gadkari, the three senior BJP leaders have reportedly decided on Modi as the best man for the top job in the party. Modi is acceptable even to the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. But Modi is reported to be unwilling to move out of Gujarat and take over from Rajnath Singh as the BJP president. Sources claimed Modi is keener to succeed Advani as leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The speculation in the state BJP is that Modi is reluctant to move to the Centre, mainly for three reasons - he wants to be in Gujarat for the grand Swarnim Gujarat celebrations scheduled for May 2010.
Secondly, the rift in the top and middle levels of the BJP leadership is currently so deep that even Modi may find it difficult to control the warring factions.
And the third reason is the fact that Modi prefers to function independently. As BJP president, he will need to have consensus on all issues, while as leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha he’ll have greater autonomy, said a senior source in the party.
“If he fails to restore order in the party immediately after taking over, it may cause a setback to his political career which may prove hard to overcome,” said the source. “His forays out of Gujarat during the Lok Sabha elections in May were not particularly appreciated.”
But the rumour mills in the BJP continue to churn out new gossip. The buzz at the BJP office since Sunday afternoon is that their big boss is moving to Delhi “anytime now”. “If not as president, then as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha,” an insider said.
This speculation has been fuelled further by RSS leader Ram Madhav’s statement that Advani will step down early next year after the new BJP president takes charge. Talk of Modi moving to Delhi became more intense in the state BJP last week after Bhagwat sent Gadkari to Delhi but without a formal announcement that he would be taking over as the next party president.
“Senior leaders like former Goa CM Manohar Panicker, chief minister of MP Shivrajsinh Chauhan, and Gopinath Munde were in the running for the top post, but they have been overlooked for a small political fry like Gadkari,” a senior BJP source said. “BJP leaders are incensed at such assertion from the RSS.”
The growing uneasiness between the BJP’s top leadership and the RSS is getting palpable now. At a function in Pune, Bhagwat said the BJP is a “divided house, which cannot function properly….” However, if Modi holds ground, they may have to concede for now.
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