No pressure from RSS, Advani to stay: BJP

In an attempt to clear any "confusion or controversy" over the continuance of LK Advani as party chief, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today issued a firm denial that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had asked for the former deputy prime minister's resignation.

"Never at any point in the meetings between senior RSS functionaries and BJP leaders was a demand made for Advani's resignation," said party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj.

Swaraj admitted, however, that the RSS had expressed concern over Advani's "ideological deviation" especially his comments on Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. "The RSS did express its concern that certain ideological deviations had occurred during Advani's Pakistan visit," she said.

BJP leaders today held a closed-door meeting of its office-bearers including Advani. Advani's presence at the meeting signaled that despite a public censure by the RSS, he was determined to carry on.

According to sources, Advani is determined not to "slink away" from the presidency but to prove his point that the BJP requires ideological reconfiguration.

"The wait is on for the Bihar elections, since it will be a sort of referendum on the 'secular Advani'," said a senior BJP leader.

However, if Bihar does become the testing ground of the relative merits of Advani's and the RSS opposing positions, things do not look rosy for the party.

According to a senior BJP leader, the outcome of the last general elections can partly be attributed to disenchantment of the Sangh fountainhead with its political wing, the BJP. And it was no different in the last Assembly elections in Bihar and Jharkhand, when RSS workers simply refused to come out to work for the BJP, he said.

While in Jharkhand the situation was salvaged in the last moment with local BJP leaders managing to cajole the cadre into working for the party in the elections, in Bihar, getting even polling agents were not easy. And the result was there for every one to see""the Janata Dal (United), the BJP's poll partner""fared better.

"Basically, RSS cadres fill in for the BJP workers. The BJP is a party of leaders with very few committed workers," said a senior BJP leader from Bihar.

"Unless, the RSS cadre come out to work for the BJP, which they are very unlikely to do after the latest spat in the Sangh pariwar, poll outcome in Bihar is likely to be the same or even worse for the BJP," she said.

While the second-rung leaders of the BJP appeared to be fully behind Advani this time round, the confrontationist position with the RSS has made them jittery.

"The second-rung does realise that there yet to be an alternative for Advani. Also to remove the party president at the behest of another organisation just does not appear good," said a senior leader.