The leadership issue is giving labour pangs to the BJP in its Goa conclave. Its choicest baby, Narendra Modi, may emerge clearly. Or perhaps, the party is pregnant with an idea whose time has not come. By the looks of it, the stage is set for Modi’s “national avatar”, but the pace of churning within the party fold has left leaders befuddled.
The BJP is still grappling with the question with no pragmatic solution in the sight. The party is left with three options: Clearly project Modi as the PM-candidate, make him incharge of campaign panel for national elections or keep the decision in abeyance till a suitable time is found. As evidenced in Goa, to choose from among any of these options is easier said than done.
The first two options will be seen as Modi’s clear cut projection as party’s face for 2014 elections. There is a deep concern that these two propositions could queer the pitch for the NDA. The third choice is equally difficult to deal with, given the groundswell of support for Modi among BJP’s rank and file. BJP president Rajnath Singh is clearly in a cleft stick.
Speculation is running wild between the climax of Modi being drafted incharge of the BJP and the anti-climax of party coming a cropper on the leadership issue. Top party leaders will burn midnight oil on Saturday to come to grip with the elusive finale. Sunday (the last day of executive meeting) is being viewed as a day of hope for the rank and file, a top BJP leader said.
Even BJP chief Rajnath Singh generated ‘hope’ at the meeting. “When you return home on Sunday; you will be energised, happy and enthused,” Singh told members of BJP National Executive in his opening address at the meeting on Saturday, though party spokesmen remained tight-lipped on the kind of decision that will “energise” party workers.
Sources told The Pioneer that an ‘informal’ meeting of members of the Parliamentary Board will take place later in the night to settle the “issue”. Singh has already started the deliberations (on Modi’s national role) with three Chief Ministers and leaders of the RSS whose joint general secretary Suresh Soni landed here on Saturday. Soni is incharge of BJP affairs in the RSS.
Sources claimed a section of the RSS want the BJP to take the call on the leadership issues for once and all, instead of discussing whether or not Modi should head the campaign committee for national polls. “They feel the tug of war within the BJP would not stop until this leadership issue is settled,” sources claimed. Apparently, Singh also spoke to senior JD(U) leaders to gauge their mood on BJP’s Modi plan. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is a known Modi baiter and Singh’s telephone calls to JD(U) leaders triggered speculation that something ‘big’ could happen on Sunday and the BJP chief was testing the waters as to what could this lead up to.
Still, uppermost on the minds of party leaders is the question whether the BJP can give short shrift to its veteran lK Advani, who skipped the meeting for the first time in party’s 33-year-old history. Advani, apparently, is not amenable to Modi being given the charge of the campaign committee for national elections. That Advani loyalists like Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha, Uma Bharti and others also skipped the meet escalated the speculation that ‘ailing’ veteran was not happy with BJP’s Panaji plans. Sources claimed top BJP leaders were trying to persuade Advani to give his “blessings” to whatever decision that will be taken at the Goa meet.