New Delhi:
Varun Gandhi has become a case of quick rise, quicker fall. After his hate speech, he was the new hope for saffron strategists. But, six months later, not a single BJP leader from Maharashtra, Haryana or Arunachal asked the party to send him for campaigning. But the party claims it was a strategy plan.
"It's not that we called some leaders and did not call others or that we didn't call Varun because of the Hindutva thing. We had a plan and we followed it," says Vinod Tawade, a senior BJP leader.
Sources on the other hand say that BJP state units were vary of Varun campaigning. After the Lok Sabha poll defeat, the party feels Varun polarised Muslim votes in favour of the Congress which forced the RSS to signal that it doesn't want hooligan Hindtuva.
The party's older Hindutva mascot Narendra Modi campaigned but only as a chief minister who delivered. The BJP's campaign in three states had no emotive appeals - no personal remarks - no Hindutva. Yet the party thinks it has given the rivals a run for their money.
After a low profile campaign that talked about prices, unemployment and failed promises, some in the BJP who have been advocating a paradigm shift in Hindutva feel vindicated. But Arun Jaitley, BJP leader says, "It was an election - as per a strategy we fought on real issues which is the way politics needs to be done."
But it may still be too early to reach a conclusion. The RSS wants greater involvement in party matters. And post Advani there will be no senior leader left to check the strident elements.