New Delhi: The BJP has exhorted senior leader LK Advani to withdraw his resignation from all party posts, but it now has to crack the code of what to offer to the stalwart who quit over the party choosing Narendra Modi to lead its election campaign.
The party's powerful ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS, has reportedly instructed the BJP that a strategy to win Mr Advani back must not offer even the glint of a compromise on the new VVIP status given to Mr Modi.
"The Sangh has not said anything like that. What is being said about the Sangh is not correct," said BJP president Rajnath Singh this morning. (Track updates)
But sources say that Mr Advani is deeply hurt by the RSS's actions.
Mr Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat, was named the chairman of the BJP's campaign committee at a party conference in Goa over the weekend. Mr Advani had skipped the conclave; the official reason given was illness. It was, sources say, an RSS writ that called for Mr Modi's promotion to be announced despite Mr Advani's absence.
Yesterday, Mr Advani allegedly told leaders who visited him after he resigned that Mr Modi is "not the correct man to lead India."
A new dimension to the BJP's crisis has been added by its biggest partner, the Janata Dal (United) or JDU, whose senior leaders have publicly rebuked the BJP for mistreating "its tallest leader."
JDU president Sharad Yadav is also the convenor of the National Democratic Alliance, a national coalition of nine parties, anchored by the BJP. Mr Advani is chairman of the NDA, a post he has not quit.
Mr Yadav warned on Monday that "the NDA is on ventilator support," suggesting that the JDU is weighing whether to quit the coalition.
The party's powerful ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS, has reportedly instructed the BJP that a strategy to win Mr Advani back must not offer even the glint of a compromise on the new VVIP status given to Mr Modi.
But sources say that Mr Advani is deeply hurt by the RSS's actions.
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Yesterday, Mr Advani allegedly told leaders who visited him after he resigned that Mr Modi is "not the correct man to lead India."
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JDU president Sharad Yadav is also the convenor of the National Democratic Alliance, a national coalition of nine parties, anchored by the BJP. Mr Advani is chairman of the NDA, a post he has not quit.
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