New Delhi: Senior leader of BJP Lal Krishna Advani meet with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday. Advani had failed to extract a firm commitment to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat that his concern about the functioning and direction of the party would be heeded. In this meetingt, Advani raise the issue he had cited when he resigned from his aoll three post of BJP due to elevation of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in BJP. Advani showed his dissapointment for the selection of Narendra Modi as the chief of election campaign committee for 2014 election. Mohan Bhagwat had offered little except the assurance to hold more discussions and an advice to the veteran saffronite to stay engaged.
Bhagwat also said that other stakeholders needed to be heard before he took a view: a rather candid assertion that Advani’s views on party’s affairs were not the final word. Bhagwat was the person who had persuaded Advani to withdraw his resignation on june 11.
This meeting was held in RSS headquarter in Delhi which end without any commitment for the issues of Advani.
Earlier, Advani had given his resignation letter to party President Rajnath Singh in which he said, “For some time, I have been finding it difficult to reconcile either with the current functioning of the party or the direction in which it is going.” He also said that most party leaders had deviated from the ideals of the founding fathers, and were pursuing their selfish agendas.
The resignation, which was widely interpreted as a protest against Modi’s elevation and surprised many, ended equally dramatically the following day with Rajnath Singh emphasizing that Advani had retraced his step following talks with Bhagwat, while assuring that all his “concerns” would be “properly addressed”.
Sangh Parivar circles had interpreted Advani’s lament about the “functioning” and “direction” of the party as shorthand for the resentment of his supporters about the functioning of RSS’s joint secretary general Suresh Soni and Modi’s ascendancy. Soni, RSS’s liaison person who is respected by many in saffron circles for his ideological clarity and tough resolve, has earned a reputation for not allowing himself to be intimidated by seniority.
RSS had issued a statement suggesting that no decision on Soni, specially on whether he should continue on Sangh’s BJP desk, will be taken without hearing him and others.
As on the issue of elevation of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, party president Rajnath Singh had made it clear that before Advani’ withdrew of his resignation that it is irreversible.
The statement issued by RSS said, “Shri Advaniji conveyed his views on various developments in the country and the role of the party and the broad nationalist movement led by Sangh. It was opined that several issues need further discussion and exchange of notes at various levels. Same will take place at appropriate time. Shri Bhagwat ji suggested that such useful exchange of views should continue in future also.” It seems that the RSS statement made it plain that Advani got no concession from Bhagwat.
Bureau Report
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