Leadership issue dominates meet

BJP NATIONAL EXECUTIVE MEET

The BJP's National Executive meet in Bhopal had one overt agenda, that of preparing the party for the prospect of mid-term polls.

But it was the underlying agenda of a leadership change in the party that dominated the meet. So much so that former party president L K Advani spent much of his time pacifying such speculation.

After uncharacteristically praising party president Rajnath Singh and his known detractor former minister Murli Manohar Joshi at a public rally in Bhopal, Advani devoted a large part of his speech to party unity and the hope that the ailing Atal Behari Vajpayee would come back to lead the party. Significantly, he was delivering concluding remarks at the meet in place of the absent, ailing Vajpayee.

He indicated in his speech that only by pacifying speculation over internal bickering could the party give the Congress a run for its money in the next elections.

"In the weeks ahead, together with our present and additional allies in the NDA, we shall present ourselves to the people as a clear, capable and reliable alternative to the UPA in the elections, whenever they are held," he said in his speech to the party.

"From Bhopal, all of us should go back to begin work on the coming electoral battle with unity, determination and discipline, which traditionally have been the hallmarks of our party," he said.

Others in the party, including party president Rajnath Singh, hedged around the leadership issue, which has taken the shape of a ticking time bomb in the party.

While Singh said that the situation in the country in 1996, when the party had met in Bhopal, was the same as now, he refused to acknowledge that in 2007 the BJP would probably face the next election without Vajpayee's leadership.

Advani pointed out that stability, strong response on terror, inclusive economic growth and the reversal of the devaluation of the post of prime minister were some of the main cornerstones of a BJP campaign.

The Ram Setu issue would of course be a big one, with the attack on Hindu faith being the decisive reason to vote out the Congress.