The Hindu : BJP chief ready to quit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 28, 2002

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BJP chief ready to quit

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI JUNE 27. A major shake-up — and the shadow of a crisis looming in the background — is staring the Bharatiya Janata Party in the face as its president, Jana Krishnamurthi, indicated that he was ready to quit his position, pack his bags and leave, after he was offered a Cabinet position by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

It seems that after Mr. Vajpayee gets back here from Lucknow tomorrow evening, the final consultations will take place and the matter will be clinched before the Cabinet reshuffle on July 1 on who the next party president should be.

As of now the contenders for the top slot in the party organisation are Pramod Mahajan, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh. Before taking a decision party leaders can be expected to keep in mind the fact that crucial north Indian states will go to the polls next year, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, besides Gujarat.

With a new party president expected to be in place very soon, changes are expected in the top slots in the party organisations, including the key posts of general secretaries.

The effort by Mr. Vajpayee and the Union Home Minister, L.K. Advani, to link a major Cabinet re-shuffle with a new look for the party organisation has virtually put the party in a crisis situation for the last several days. Several party leaders have said openly that Mr. Krishnamurthi's refusal to give up his post had created a hurdle in the way of Mr. Vajpayee's ideas on refurbishing his government while ensuring a new look for the party, while others have expressed shock at the manner in which the `big two' were treating the party president, who they had installed and got duly elected.

The Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, Brajesh Mishra, was sent to meet Mr. Krishnamurthi to persuade him to accept the Cabinet offer. In the afternoon Mr. Krishnamurthi was closeted with the former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, for over an hour. Clearly, Mr. Vajpayee is hoping to get a `yes' response to the Cabinet berth offer.

However, today Mr. Krishnamurthi stated as plainly as he could that he would not wait ``even for a few minutes'' to resign his post if the Prime Minister wanted him to, that he had ``never hankered after any position,'' he had ``refused a governorship'' earlier, and that it was Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Advani, who had wanted him to take the responsibility of party president.

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