There is great resentment in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the appointment of Mohan Guruswamy as an advisor to Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha. The swadeshi wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) is unhappy with the appointment and has decided to keep tabs on Guruswamy.
Some leaders, identified with the party's swadeshi thinking, lobbied with home minister LK Advani for Guruswamy's appointment. Since Guruswamy was the nominee of a key Swadeshi Jagran Manch leader, an RSS affiliate, other Manch leaders are not airing their views publicly. However, some of them privately hold that Guruswamy was not the right choice.
"At present, we have no proof against him, so we are giving him the benefit of doubt. We want to see how he responds to various issues like foreign investment and insurance," said an SJM leader.
Some BJP leaders hold Guruswamy responsible for the brouhaha that was generated during the general elections over a lock in for foreign direct investment (FDI). Vajpayee had to repeatedly clarify that there would not be any such condition. Some of the swadeshi lobby leaders are privately investigating Guruswamy's antecedents prior to his appointment and his stand on various issues like autonomy to Kashmir and Aksai Chin.
His views did not match with the BJP's public stand, a swadeshi leader held. Guruswamy publicly objected to the Vajpayee government's delay in giving approval for the Tata Airline project, the leader pointed out.
Even senior BJP leaders were baffled by his appointment as he was a low-profile member of the party's media cell and had joined the party only about three years ago. The party leadership's decision to appoint him is surprising, a BJP-office bearer said. The resentment over Guruswamy's appointment was "understandable and genuine," he said. Those who have been working with the party since a long time should be rewarded first, he held. However, he held that there was no point in opposing the appointment. After all, Advani must have given it thought before causing the appointment, he added. Some other BJP functionaries hold that Advani was misguided by those who lobbied for Guruswamy.
