As political temperatures soared and parties grappled with internal problems, the BJP’s old guard Jaswant Singh on Saturday rejected a conciliatory gesture made by party president Rajnath Singh, attacked the party leadership and praised veteran leader lK Advani.
Jaswant got support from senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj who said she was pained at the decision to deny him the ticket. At the same time, Shiv Sena opened another front against the ally BJP with Uddhav Thackeray fuming at the “insult” meted out to Advani and said that it was “not the end of his era in BJP politics.”
Amid indications that he was likely to resign from the BJP on Sunday and take a plunge into the poll fray as an Independent candidate, Jaswant Singh said there was a need to differentiate between “real” and “fake” BJP as whatever was happening in the party now was not in line with its ideology.
“We have to differentiate between the real and fake BJP. What is happening now is the difference between real and fake. One has to reflect upon the principles for which the party stood and the direction in which it is being led now,” he told reporters.
lending him support, Sushma told reporters in Bhopal that she was “pained” at the party’s decision to deny a lok Sabha ticket to Singh. “As far as the issue of Jaswant Singh is concerned, it was a decision of the party. It was not a normal decision. Such decisions (asaadharan nirnay) are not,” she said.
The leader of Opposition in the lok Sabha said there must have been some reason behind the decision. “There must be some reason because that ticket was not decided by the (BJP) Central Election Committee.
It was decided later. There must be some reason, but personally I am pained with this,” she said. Trying to placate Singh, Rajnath Singh told reporters in Delhi that he (Jaswant) is a senior leader and his services will be utilised appropriately. “Jaswant Singh is a senior leader of the party and we respect him. His dignity cannot be measured in terms of tickets. We will utilize his services and experience appropriately,” Rajnath Singh said.
However, a defiant Singh said there was no question of any rethink. “The party has done this to me twice now and now there is no chance of accepting any alternative proposal,” he said. Singh, one of the founders of the BJP, said it was important for the subscribers of the philosophy of BJP to know who has “encroached and what are their gains,” in an attack on the leadership without taking names.
The former Union Minister is considered close to Advani and there is speculation that Narendra Modi backed Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s stand on the issue of denial of the Barmer ticket. He recalled the contributions of Vajpayee and Advani in building the party and said that “this party of ideology is tragically being encroached upon by those, who have been arch detractors of BJP’s ideology.”
“It is so unfortunate that the BJP has been completely taken over by the elements (outsiders), who never had any respect for the party’s ideology,” he said. Singh, who would be reaching Barmer on Sunday, refused to disclose whether he would be filing his nomination as an Independent. “Everything will be decided only after I reach Barmer and have a discussion with my supporters,” he said.
Meanwhile, hitting out at the BJP over the drama that took place over Advani’s ticket, Shiv Sena on Saturday questioned why the party took so long to decide on his lok Sabha seat and said while Narendra Modi’s era has begun, it did not mean that it was the end of Advani’s era.
“Advani’s name should have been in the first list of the BJP’s lok Sabha candidates. However, this did not happen. One who built the party and showed it days of glory was kept waiting,” party president Uddhav Thackeray said. “Why did the BJP take so long to decide on Advani’s constituencyIJ Doing so is an insult to him,” the Sena president said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
Targeting the BJP for treating Advani unfairly, the editorial said: “Narendra Modi’s era has begun, but that does not mean it is the end of Advani’s era. The BJP veteran’s political character is without any blot.”
“Murli Manohar Joshi was asked to contest from Kanpur so that Modi could contest from Varanasi. Rajnath chose the safe seat of lucknow instead of Ghaziabad. Jaitley was fielded from Amritsar by removing Navjot Sidhu from the fray. Then why was there so much delay in Advani’s caseIJ” Uddhav fumed.
“The relation that the veteran leader has with the masses is still intact. The Advani episode may seem trivial in comparison with the current political tribulations but one must keep in mind that big accidents can occur through such small incidents,” the Sena leader said.
“There is no point coming to one’s senses after the time has passed,” he said. Uddhav’s sharp remarks come in the backdrop of a rift between the two parties after former BJP president Nitin Gadkari met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray, leading to the Sena launching a tirade against Gadkari. Yesterday, Sena announced its decision to field candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi.