Ignored, Jaitley stays off crucial poll meet

BJP’s election coordination committee chief Arun Jaitley stayed away from a crucial meeting on Friday allegedly because of his diminishing role in the party and increasing interference from president Rajnath Singh’s lobby in poll matters.

The central election committee meeting on Friday was supposed to decide party candidates for several states, including Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Jaitley is LK Advani’s right hand man and a key functionary for the party’s election management. His decision to stay away from the meet sent out a wrong signal that all is not well within the party.

However, a Jaitley aide said the leader was attending a lunch meeting at Advani’s residence to finalise the seat-sharing agreement with Bihar chief minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar.

Jaitley was appointed chief coordinator for the BJP’s election campaign last Friday. He also heads a seven-member committee constituted to formulate the BJP’s policies. He is reportedly upset over the appointment of Sudhanshu Mittal as co-in-charge for the northeast. BJP chief Rajnath Singh did not consult Jaitley, who has little regard for Mittal, before making the appointment. He, however, consulted Advani.