New Delhi: The decision of Bharatiya Janata Party’s senior leader Lal Krishna Advani had been taken and it has been decided that LK Advani to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election from Gandhinagar seat. But it took RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s assurance of the Sangh’s total support and a day-long negotiation before the veteran yielded.
Advani’s refusal to accept his party’s central election committee decision to field him from Gandhinagar had forced the BJP to make the unprecedented move of withholding the decision and leaving the choice of seat Advani. The crisis that erupted on Wednesday after Advani told BJP president Rajnath Singh that there was an overwhelming demand from party workers of Bhopal for him to contest the seat was resolved on Thursday evening only after several attempts from the RSS and the party brass.
A spot as detractor and political opponent had accused the PM candidate of BJP Narendra Modi after the decision of Advani to move out of Gandhinagar. Advani has represented Gandhinagar since 1991.
A source claimed that the choice of Bhopal created further complications as Advani has often projected the MP CM as an equal to Modi.
Ironically, Advani had contested for the first time from Gandhinagar in 1991 after Modi, then a protege of the senior leader, made repeated pleas to him to contest from this seat. Modi reportedly wanted to oust Sankersinh Vaghela from Gandhinagar then.
After the bid to placate Advani had not yielded any result on Wednesday, senior leaders including Modi called on Advani, one by one, to assure him of all support. A source confirmed that Bhagwat too called on Advani to discuss the issue.
Modi who had called Bhagwat in Delhi on Wednesday night to discuss the development, carried a bouquet for Advani when he went to meet him on Thursday. However, Advani did not budge from his stand during the 40-minute meeting. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley and former party president M Venkaiah Naidu were among leaders who called on Advani. RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi too called up Advani to enquire if he would agree to contest from Gandhinagar.
Party president Rajnath Singh was in constant touch with the RSS and BJP leaders from Chennai to sort things out. The BJP chief consulted the Parliamentary Board and CEC members on letting Advani take a call on his seat. He then talked to Advani and conveyed the party view.
Rajnath Singh said, “It is the unanimous view of the party that the choice of where to contest from should be left to Advaniji himself. I have spoken to Advaniji and conveyed the views of all to him. The party will respect the opinion of Advaniji with regard to this choice of constituency for contesting the election.”
Bureau Report
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