LK Advani quits as BJP president

Refuses to budge as party leaders seek rethink

LK Advani today resigned as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president after the party's ideological prop, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), protested against his praise of Mohd Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan, during his recent visit to that country.

According to sources in the party, the decision to resign was taken by Advani in Karachi itself, as he was "distressed by the attitude of the entire second rung of leadership who occupy the posts in the central committee of the party".

Sources confirm that on June 5, Advani sent a message to the party headquarters in Delhi that his remarks on Jinnah be properly contextualised and explained through the party machinery.

The BJP second rung apparently refused and a message to that effect was sent to Advani, who was in Karachi at that time, by BJP General Secretary Sushma Swaraj. It was after this that Advani decided to resign.

Things were precipitated when BJP General Secretaries Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Bal Apte, M Venkaiah Naidu and Sanjay Joshi were summoned to Keshav Kunj, the Delhi headquarters of the RSS, late last night where Mohan Bhagwat, second-in-command in the organisation, conveyed its displeasure over Advani's remarks.

After the general secretaries conveyed the RSS message to Advani, the BJP president took this as his cue to tender his resignation, which he did this morning to Sanjay Joshi, BJP organisational general secretary and an RSS man.

Advani's letter states that he had decided to resign while leaving Karachi on Monday and that the RSS reaction had further convinced him. "I am writing this letter just before departing from Karachi. I have not said or done anything in Pakistan which I need to retract or review," he said in his resignation letter.

Advani's resignation set off a flurry of activities within the BJP as senior BJP leaders began asking him to reconsider his move.

Sources close to Advani said he "had made up his mind" and that he was hurt by the fact that apart from Atal Bihari Vajpayee, no BJP leader had defended him nor condemned the statement made by Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia, calling him (Advani) a traitor.

This oversight was addressed when, after a two-hour huddle, BJP general secretaries decided to call a meeting of central office-bearers and the parliamentary board of the party and roundly condemned Togadia's statement.

"We condemn in the strongest possible manner the statement and language used by Praveenbhai Togadia," said Naidu. "We will be meeting tomorrow to discuss Advaniji's resignation, and we appeal to him to reconsider his decision," he added.

Although the party stated that it wanted Advani back, Naidu said, "(The) BJP thanked Advaniji for his yeoman services to the party," and that "Advaniji had been setting the political agenda for the nation for the last two decades".