BJP defers Chennai meet to shield Advani

The crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not only caused the postponement of its national executive to be held in Chennai later this week, but also raised prospects of disciplinary action against former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana, who had demanded that party chief LK Advani step down from both his posts.

A day after an uneasy truce was said to have been arrived at between the Rashtriya Swaymsewak Sangh (RSS) and Advani, senior party leaders met here at former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence and decided on deferring the three-day executive from July 21 to September 16-18.

While BJP parliamentary party spokesman VK Malhotra maintained that the meeting had been postponed to prepare for the Monsoon Session of Parliament, beginning next week, the decision was seen as an attempt to stave off any criticism of the party chief at the executive.

Advani and senior leaders like M Venkaiah Naidu were in favour of going ahead with the Chennai executive providing for discussions on all issues, but other party leaders felt a postponement would avoid an embarrassing situation, sources added.

After a week of defiance of the RSS directive to step down in the wake of his controversial visit to Pakistan and his ideological differences, Advani is understood to have convinced the Sangh brass that he should not be seen as quitting under pressure and that he should be given the choice of his timing to make "an honourable exit", sources said.

"The time limit will in all probability be till December when the party meets again in Mumbai," said a source.

Khurana, according to a party spokesperson, will face "appropriate action" for his letter in which he had said the BJP president should resign from both his posts of president of the party and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

"The others who wrote letters during that time only spoke of ideological issues to be discussed at the Chennai meet, while Khurana not only spoke of Advani resigning, but his own inability to work under Advani," said Prakash Javadekar, BJP spokesperson.

Sources said Khurana had adopted an anti-Advani stance because he had been denied a Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat by the party.

A meeting of NDA leaders has also been called at Vajpayee's residence on July 24 to chalk out the strategy and floor co-ordination for the monsoon session. The BJP has sent around 50 notices for the session.

The Budget session was marred by long boycotts by the NDA.

Sources said Khurana had adopted an anti-Advani stance only because he had been denied a Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat by the party.

"In fact, when Advani had gone to Lakhanpur in Jammu and Kashmir, Khurana could not stop singing Advani's praises so, obviously, it was just an opportunistic move on his part," added a senior BJP office-bearer.