When the BJP ignored the opposition of
LK Advani and chose
Narendra Modi to head its campaign for the national elections, it was prepared for some residual dust. What it has got is a tornado.
Mr Advani, 85, and a founding member of the BJP, resigned from all his party posts this afternoon. He quit the BJP's national executive, the parliamentary board and election committee.
"I have not accepted Shri Advaniji's resignation," party chief Rajnath Singh said on Twitter.
Yesterday, after his promotion as the head of the BJP's campaign committee, Mr Modi had tweeted, "Spoke to Advani ji on the phone. He gave me his blessings. Honoured and extremely grateful to receive his blessings."
Today, he tweeted that in a phone call, he had urged Mr Advani to withdraw his resignation. He also posted that he will "stand by whatever decision the Board takes."
But sources say that his supporters are messaging the party's leadership to offer "courtesy, not compromise," a stand also allegedly taken by the BJP's powerful ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS.
BJP sources have said that their president was concerned about the consequences of announcing Mr Modi's massive promotion at a conference in Goa which Mr Advani pointedly skipped. The BJP's ideological mentor, the RSS, allegedly said it was imperative for the dithering over Mr Modi's status to end.
The RSS was keen to convey that it respects the wishes of party cadres who have been clamouring for Mr Modi to be made the party's prime ministerial candidate since December, when he was re-elected for a fourth term in office.
The elevation of Mr Modi was a difficult decision for the BJP because he is one of the country's most divisive politicians. His efficient administration and industry-friendly policies have turned his state into an economic success story. But he is accused by critics of not doing enough to stop the riots 11 years ago in Gujarat, in which hundreds of Muslims were killed