Date:08/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/08/stories/2007090862371400.htm

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BJP has many leaders who can grace the prime minister’s office: Yashwant Sinha

Neena Vyas

Leaders clarify that the matter will be decided by the parliamentary board during election time

Yashwant Sinha

NEW DELHI: Will the Leader of the Opposition, L.K. Advani, be projected as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate by virtue of his position?

This question has once again generated controversy in the party after several leaders, starting with the former External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, clarified that at the time of the next Lok Sabha election it will be the party that will take a decision.

In an interview to a television channel, Mr. Sinha made it plain that the BJP had many leaders who could grace the prime minister’s office. A decision would be taken by the party. He also pointed out that Mr. Advani had himself said that in India there was no convention of a Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha being automatically considered the prime minister in-waiting.

Replying to questions, he said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was the Leader of the Opposition for six years, but did not become prime minister.

The controversy first arose after the National Democratic Alliance’s defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections when Mr. Advani himself suggested that a Leader of the Opposition, a post held by him, is normally looked at as a prime minister in-waiting. However, he had also said that it was the prerogative of the party to take a decision.

When the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, V.K. Malhotra, was asked here on Friday who the party’s prime ministerial candidate would be, he too, like Mr. Sinha, indicated that the parliamentary board of the party would take a decision at an appropriate time. “Atalji [Atal Bihari Vajpayee] and Advaniji [L.K. Advani] are our tallest leaders. The parliamentary board will take a decision.” Party leaders privately say that after the Jinnah controversy, which saw the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh force Mr. Advani to resign as party president, it was unlikely that he would get the RSS’ blessings to be projected as prime minister. Any candidate for the top job would have to get a green signal from the RSS.

When Mr. Advani tried recently to counter the party’s considered view on the nuclear deal by suggesting that the BJP hade no problems with the 123 agreement but had reservations on the Hyde Act the party swiftly moved to force him to issue a clarificatory statement on August 30.

He was told that he had no authority to change the declared stand of the party on the nuclear deal that had been approved by the top party leadership collectively. Party leaders point out that these developments show Mr. Advani cannot take the party for granted; certainly he cannot take the RSS for granted. In short, there is a big question mark on Mr. Advani being projected as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate.