Bhishma on bed of arrows

RADHIKA RAMASESHAN

New Delhi, June 11: L.K. Advani rolled back his resignation from the BJP's top policy-framing committees without securing a concrete assurance on the "concerns" he had raised other than an ego massage from the RSS. Soon after, Narendra Modi — the ostensible provocation for the extreme step Advani took —tweeted: "I had said yesterday that Advaniji will not disappoint lakhs of (BJP)karyakartas (workers). Today, I whole-heartedly welcome his decision." The BJP's campaign spearhead also coined the first poll slogan: "Ek Bharat, shreshth Bharat (one India, best India)." A combination of general assurances and an appeal to the call of "duty" he owed to the BJP as one of its founders apparently prompted Advani to withdraw his resignation. Sources present at the numerous meetings today between Advani and his colleagues said the issue of Modi's anointment as the BJP's national campaign committee head and the prospective choice of him as the putative Prime Minister did not figure. "Neither did he ask nor did we bring it up," a source said. Advani's "concern", the source said, was "more on the internal decision-making procedures and the BJP's image". He was told by his confidants — who are making a place for themselves in a Modi-led dispensation — that he should not have resigned and "dampened" the euphoria that followed Modi's anointment and that as the architect of the BJP's early victories, he should "place its interest above everything else". "We told him that the mood of the workers is to strengthen the party, prepare for the elections and combat the Congress and not fight within the family," a source said. Advani was told clearly that if the BJP suffered a third successive defeat in 2014, it would spell its doom. An Advani aide said the "clincher" was the conversation with RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat. Other sources said former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and swadeshi votary S. Gurumurthy dialled Bhagwat's number and handed the phone to Advani. Bhagwat, the aide said, assured Advani that he would ask Rajnath to "address your concerns" and to "work out the necessary modalities". He told Advani he would call on him when he was in Delhi on June 18. Advani's callers included his staunchest loyalists Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar and their acolytes, S.S. Ahluwalia and Gopinath Munde. His other visitors were Jaswant Singh, Uma Bharti, Murli Manohar Joshi, Balbir Punj and Gadkari. Advani's former political adviser, Sudheendra Kulkarni, no longer in the BJP, was by his side as well. For the rest, it was business as usual. Rajnath briefly met him before departing for Rajasthan to address Vasundhara Raje's ongoing "yatra" as did Arun Jaitley before taking off for London. During the day, Bhagwat phoned the BJP president and conveyed that Advani was willing to rethink his decision. He asked Rajnath to issue a statement, signalling that "all is well" within the "parivar". Rajnath returned this evening and addressed the media at Advani's residence in the company of Sushma, Uma and Jaswant among others. A terse statement he read out said Advani was assured that his "concerns" about the BJP's functioning and the "modalities" of addressing these would be discussed with him. Rajnath also alluded to Advani's conversation with Bhagwat. He said the RSS chief had "asked him to respect the BJP's parliamentary board decision (rejecting his resignation) and continue to guide the party in national interest. Shri Advani has decided to accept Shri Bhagwat's advice". Rajnath refused to take questions on whether the bold print had papered over certain conditions Advani had laid down and if these would be met. Sources rebuffed the suggestion of a quid pro quo. Ironically, Bhagwat's projection in the BJP's statement and by an Advani aide ran counter to Advani's recent agenda. For the past 10 years or so, Advani had consistently maintained the Sangh should stop micro-managing the BJP's affairs. Advani's run-in with his ideological parent began after his Pakistan visit in 2005 that culminated in his praise of Jinnah. The RSS refused to countenance the act and prevailed on the BJP to replace him as the party president. Advani went out, kicking and screaming at the Sangh. He refused to disown the Jinnah phase. Sources said what tipped the scales against Advani in the latest episode was the BJP's near-total backing of Modi as its new poll mascot. It appears that even Sushma and Uma have reconciled to the phase-out of their mentor and the arrival of the Modi dispensation. The sadhvi told journalists today that Modi was like Advani's "son". The only solace, if at all, for Sushma and company was that Advani's continuance in the panels could be a buffer of sorts against Modi. But his resignation and rapid withdrawal have already become a butt of jokes in the BJP. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130612/jsp/frontpage/story_16998374.jsp#.UbiGL-eBlA0