Nagpur:
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, which reportedly instructed the BJP to hasten
Narendra Modi's promotion as head of its campaign committee yesterday, has sought to remind
LK Advani that "no one is above the party." Mr Advani has quit all party positions after his opposition to Mr Modi's elevation was ignored at the party's Goa conclave, which he did not attend.
RSS ideologue MG Vaidya said that he was "shocked at the way Advani handled the episode of Modi's elevation...I can't say what prompted him to take such a drastic step."
The RSS is the ideological parent of the BJP and likes to appropriate a key role in strategy making for the party. Mr Advani, who cut his political teeth as an RSS man decades ago, has in the last few years been among those in the party who have strongly resisted attempts by the RSS to dictate what happens in the BJP.
Mr Modi being given charge of the BJP's mission 2014, which the RSS reportedly insisted must happen before the party wrapped up its Goa conclave yesterday, "with or without LK Advani," is being seen by many as the next step towards the Gujarat Chief Minister being declared the BJP's candidate for prime minister in the general elections now months away. Many party leaders, including Mr Advani, reportedly believe they have better credentials for the job.
The RSS has however been suggesting for some years now that the BJP needs younger leaders at the top. At 85, Mr Advani does not qualify. For the RSS, he did not qualify at 78 either when in 2005 then Sangh chief K Sudarshan had suggested that Mr Advani step aside for younger leaders. Mr Advani had then resigned as party president in a huff.
Mr Vaidya made a veiled reference to that today when he said, "Even in RSS once a swayamsewak officebearer is 75 years of age, he steps aside." Mr Vaidya was a party to the RSS decision asking the older lot to pave way for younger leadership in the RSS
pariwar organisations.