NEW DELHI: Even as BJP grapples with its post-defeat dilemmas over a new leadership in both Parliament and the party, Leader of Opposition L K
Advani and party president Rajnath Singh met RSS head Mohan Bhagwat on Monday in what is seen to be a significant development. The meeting is the first since the poll results -- apart from an RSS intervention asking Advani to continue as Leader of Opposition -- and can be viewed in the backdrop of differing views on what the party should now be doing. It has been argued that re-emphasizing BJP's ideological core needs to be seen in the context of criticism for running a shrill, backward-looking and grievance-tinted campaign. It is being felt by a section of the party that BJP's claims to being a party of change capable of connecting with the middle classes took a blow due to the anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal in Orissa and the attacks on women at Mangalore pubs by Shri Ram Sene. The failure to unequivocally condemn saffron extremists has only hardened the opposition of minorities while it left BJP's target audience unimpressed. The RSS is keen to keep conflict in the BJP under control though the organisation cannot escape its share of blame for not making the pecking order within the party clear and allowing internecine battles between Singh and his critics to fester. Even as the election process was on, senior leader Arun Jaitley was at odds with Singh over the appointment of a controversial businessman to a party responsibility. The RSS's intervention urging Advani to continue as LOP was aimed at putting off an impending crisis while gaining time to work out a consensus within BJP. This led to Advani remaining LOP while senior leader Sushma Swaraj is the likely choice as his deputy. BJP will have to make its choice carefully as it is linked to changes, seen to be imminent, in the party set-up as well as Singh's tenure is nearing its end. Though the BJP president is understood to be keen to wrangle another term, this does not look likely as not only will it entail a change in the party constitution but it will also be difficult for the leader to escape responsibility for the poll debacle. The RSS chief has only recently taken charge from K S Sudarshan and BJP affairs present him with an important challenge as the party is threatening to slip into the doldrums after losing the elections. The choice for the BJP president's post has been rendered difficult as no "next generation" leader has clearly emerged a gainer in the elections. Despite campaigning hard, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was able to deliver only modest results and the BJP tally in his own state went up by just one. The campaign failures have also taken some sheen off BJP managers with senior leaders like Yashwant Sinha calling for a thorough review to fix accountability.
Advani and party president Rajnath Singh met RSS head Mohan Bhagwat on Monday in what is seen to be a significant development. The meeting is the first since the poll results -- apart from an RSS intervention asking Advani to continue as Leader of Opposition -- and can be viewed in the backdrop of differing views on what the party should now be doing. It has been argued that re-emphasizing BJP's ideological core needs to be seen in the context of criticism for running a shrill, backward-looking and grievance-tinted campaign. It is being felt by a section of the party that BJP's claims to being a party of change capable of connecting with the middle classes took a blow due to the anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal in Orissa and the attacks on women at Mangalore pubs by Shri Ram Sene. The failure to unequivocally condemn saffron extremists has only hardened the opposition of minorities while it left BJP's target audience unimpressed. The RSS is keen to keep conflict in the BJP under control though the organisation cannot escape its share of blame for not making the pecking order within the party clear and allowing internecine battles between Singh and his critics to fester. Even as the election process was on, senior leader Arun Jaitley was at odds with Singh over the appointment of a controversial businessman to a party responsibility. The RSS's intervention urging Advani to continue as LOP was aimed at putting off an impending crisis while gaining time to work out a consensus within BJP. This led to Advani remaining LOP while senior leader Sushma Swaraj is the likely choice as his deputy. BJP will have to make its choice carefully as it is linked to changes, seen to be imminent, in the party set-up as well as Singh's tenure is nearing its end. Though the BJP president is understood to be keen to wrangle another term, this does not look likely as not only will it entail a change in the party constitution but it will also be difficult for the leader to escape responsibility for the poll debacle. The RSS chief has only recently taken charge from K S Sudarshan and BJP affairs present him with an important challenge as the party is threatening to slip into the doldrums after losing the elections. The choice for the BJP president's post has been rendered difficult as no "next generation" leader has clearly emerged a gainer in the elections. Despite campaigning hard, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was able to deliver only modest results and the BJP tally in his own state went up by just one. The campaign failures have also taken some sheen off BJP managers with senior leaders like Yashwant Sinha calling for a thorough review to fix accountability.
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