Naidu fails to get Sangh's backing

It was the RSS' firm refusal to back M Venkiah Naidu as the next BJP president that put former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and party General Secretary Rajnath Singh in the saffron saddle.

Though Naidu himself was reluctant to take up the responsibility as he did not want to see himself as a stop-gap arrangement for a year, outgoing president L K Advani and his trusted lieutenant Arun Jaitley were pitching hard for a consensus on Naidu's name.

But the RSS leadership threw a spanner in their works, knowing that putting Naidu in the driving seat meant giving Advani a chance at backseat driving.

Consensus, thus, was achieved in favour of the 56-year-old Rajnath. According to sources in the BJP, the RSS not only wanted Advani out as party president, it was also gunning for his position as Leader of the Opposition.

The party's Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, was also in the race for the party president's post. But Swaraj fell behind after the RSS chief K Sudarshan praised her in a television interview and Advani warned the RSS not to interfere in the BJP's internal matters. Besides, her short-temper, too, worked against her prospects.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had also thrown his weight behind the UP Thakur as he was never happy with Naidu after the "loh purush" and "vikas purush" fiasco (Advani and Vajpayee) back in 2003.

Left with no choice, the Advani camp decided to back Rajnath's candidature as saying no to him would have advanced former human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi's candidature for the top job.

Rajnath's image as a clean and able administrator and a non-controversial person also worked in his favour. And being a Thakur from Uttar Pradesh helped his cause too. Rajnath's track record as a general secretary has also been no less than that of other high-profile second-generation leaders. His organisational skills helped the party win two the difficult states of Chattisgarh and Jharkhand.