Advani rebuffs BJP's patch-up formula

The BJP's efforts to delink party President LK Advani's resignation from his remarks on Mohammad Ali Jinnah were nipped in the bud after Advani refused to yield ground on the controversial issue.

The party parliamentary board had sought to defuse the situation by saying that the issue will be considered "later". In response, Advani demanded to know the opinion of the board on the Jinnah remarks.

The BJP parliamentary board meeting today passed an unanimous resolution rejecting Advani's resignation, but Advani seemed determined to push the issue.

Posing a challenge to the BJP leaders who went to his residence to hand over the resolution of the board, the BJP president said he would give his answer on retracting his resignation tomorrow morning.

He is also understood to have demanded that the BJP leaders make their position on Jinnah clear. "Either you are with me or with the RSS on this matter," he is reported to have said.

This effectively unravels the party's patch-up plan. At the meeting, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had suggested that any discussion on Advani's comments on Jinnah should be reserved for "later" and that the party should concentrate on getting Advani to withdraw his resignation.

The matter was received favourably by all leaders present, including party Vice-Presidents M Venkaiah Naidu and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, General Secretaries Arun Jaitley, Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, and Chief Ministers Narendra Modi of Gujarat and Babu Lal Gaur of Madhya Pradesh.

All the leaders present, except Vajpayee and Murli Manohar Joshi, went to Advani's residence to give him the resolution. Naidu said after the meeting, "We have given Advaniji the resolution, he said that he would think it over."

This, however, cannot mask the fact that many in the party are not very clear over how to react to Advani's statement on Jinnah. In fact, it was the refusal of the second rung of leadership to explain the context of Advani's remarks on Jinnah that led to his (Advani's) resignation as party president.

While a few leaders like Sahib Singh Verma, Sumitra Mahajan, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Kalraj Mishra, apart from Vajpayee, have sprung to Advani's defence, for many in the party defending the remarks has proved to be an unpalatable job.

"We may not agree with what Advaniji has said but we want him as party president. For that to happen, it is imperative that the Jinnah remarks be delinked from the resignation," said a senior party leader who was present at the meeting. "Defending Jinnah is almost indefensible for us, and the leaders are caught in quite a bind," he added.

Most leaders are busy quoting Bajrang Dal leader Vinay Katiyar, who has said, "Jinnah has managed not just to divide the country, but fifty years on to divide the BJP as well."

Party insiders feel that Advani is unlikely to consider retracting his statement. In that situation, Jinnah will have to be discussed within the BJP, not just in rhetoric.