Aditi Phadnis: The moor's last sigh?

BACKSTAGE

When Venkaiah Naidu was appointed vice president of the BJP alongside the likes of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, many eyebrows went up. Naidu was the only president of the party to have resigned from the post and later have been appointed vice president (in his inimitable style, he referred to his new job as a de-promotion).

When he had quit following the BJP's debacle in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, he had cited his wife's illness as the reason. Clearly that was an unofficial reason.

During his presidentship, former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid fulsome compliments to Venkaiah Naidu's energy in revitalising the party and there is no doubt that as the party president Naidu had been a relentless driver in the party, whipping the party organisation into shape, pruning dead wood and not bothering to be kind to those who got swept away. An aged but respected leader from Bihar found himself becoming a victim of the VRS Naidu offered him as president.

While breaking the news to him, Naidu said: "and so, what shall we do with you, Mr X?" The man, who had spent 50 years building the organisation in Bihar and Jharkhand spluttered a bit but meekly offered to step aside for younger blood. So Naidu's brusque and "..next!" style unsettled many in the party.

This was at a time when the party was on a winning spree. The BJP went to the polls and won the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections. This was a feather in Naidu's cap. He got even more energetic and proposed early general elections.

The description of L K Advani as lauh purush upset Vajpayee and he made it clear that early elections were not his idea by saying: "Advaniji ke nettritva mein vijay ki ore prasthan" (On our way to victory under Advani's leadership).

Naidu cringed, clarified, stammered and cried over those remarks. But what was done was done. The general elections had to be faced. It fell to the party president to come up with a slogan. "Feel good" was Venkaiah Naidu's input and Advani liked it. But it didn't work. The BJP-led NDA lost the general election (mainly because it was unable to rein in the organisation in Tamil Nadu) and in quick succession lost the Maharashtra Assembly election as well.

L K Advani, the man who has built the party in hard times and knows the value of HR in an organisation, realised that it was OK to have given the back seat to the party when it was in government.

But the organisation needed extra nurturing when it was in the opposition. By now, Naidu was beginning to feel the heat of being the president of a losing, and not a winning party. All those whom he had publicly cut to size appeared to be chortling.

He could not have known that the winning streak would return quickly "" in Bihar and Jharkhand Assembly elections. So a few months ago, he said indisposition required him to spend more time with the family and asked Advani to relieve him of the presidentship. Advani, always comfortable in the opposition than in government, found this perfectly in order. Venkiah was soon out and at his own request, an ordinary karyakarta (worker).

For a while it was fine. But Naidu was stung to the quick when during the Bihar election campaign, he proposed Nitish Kumar's name as the NDA's choice for Bihar chief ministership and Shatrughan Sinha contradicted him sharply.

Sinha, who was hoping the party would name him as its chief ministerial candidate, said he didn't agree with Naidu's suggestion. "Venkaiahji used to be party president" Sinha said. "Now he is just an ordinary worker, like us. If Advaniji says the CM candidate should be Nitish Kumar, then that's another matter".

Naidu was hurt but also realised it was important to be practical. If he didn't watch out, he would become just another party negotiator, important when issues relating to Andhra Pradesh arose, but irrelevant at other times.

His supporters suggested to Advani that Naidu should be given a job, possibly made working president. But there is no such post in the BJP and the constitution would have had to be amended. Advani chose not to do this. Instead Naidu was appointed vice president.

There is no doubt that Naidu's style, drive and devotion to Advani make him a perfect number two. His talents are likely to be used in the series of elections in South India that are due in 2006. But the party is hoping that he will continue to be number two for some time.