The Hindu : Cabinet, party rally behind Vajpayee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 06, 2003

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Cabinet, party rally behind Vajpayee

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 5. For the second day in a row, the Bharatiya Janata Party tried to put a cap on the "leadership controversy". The party, the Union Cabinet and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh all chipped in to proclaim the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, as their unquestioned leader. Indications are that as far as the Prime Minister is concerned the current chapter of the "leadership controversy" stands closed.

The controversy erupted with the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, saying that in the next Lok Sabha elections, the BJP would seek votes in the name of both Mr. Vajpayee and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. What added bite to his observation was his assertion that the proposal was decided upon at a gathering of State presidents of the party in Hyderabad last week.

The controversy acquired a different dimension on Wednesday when Mr. Vajpayee came close to suggesting that come next general elections the onus of leading the BJP to victory would be on Mr. Advani. These "on-to-victory-with-Advani" remarks were his way of conveying his unhappiness with Mr. Naidu for "wanting to inject factional notes at the very top". Subsequently, Mr. Naidu and the rest of the party found themselves having to "propitiate" the Prime Minister.

The rites of propitiation continued to be performed for most of the day. At the Union Cabinet's weekly meeting this morning, the senior Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, is believed to have taken the lead in assuring the Prime Minister that the Cabinet continued to regard him as the sole leader and that hopefully he would continue to lead the nation. Dr. Joshi's salutation to the Prime Minister was greeted with applause. Mr. Advani was also present.

The RSS leadership also made it clear that Mr. Vajpayee remained their choice for the BJP's leadership role. The standing assumption is that Mr. Advani remains the RSS's preferred choice for prime ministership.

But most of the explanations and elaborations came from Mr. Naidu. He is believed to have received a call this morning from Mr. Vajpayee and the latter is supposed to have reassured him that the controversy was over. Mr. Naidu called on the Prime Minister in the evening.

In various pronouncements and comments during the course of the day, Mr. Naidu reiterated that Mr. Vajpayee was "our unquestioned leader", while Mr. Advani was Number Two. "Mr. Vajpayee himself has named Mr. Advani as his deputy. Where is the confusion? Where is the question of anyone being unhappy? If some people outside the party and a section of the media are unhappy over our happiness, we cannot help it," he told a news agency.

In the evening, Mr. Naidu repeated his formulation of propitiation again at a public function organised by the Union Labour Minister, Sahib Singh Verma.

Trinamool stand

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress brought out the NDA dimension of the leadership controversy. The party made it clear in Kolkata that the NDA arrangement hinged on Mr. Vajpayee as the leader and should there be a change of leadership, the party would want to examine afresh its relationship with the alliance.

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