New Delhi:
On a day when the BJP's own magazine laid bare the growing chasm between its top leaders, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi visited party veterans LK Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee at their homes in Delhi.
LK Advani had used his blog for unsubtle criticism of BJP president Nitin Gadkari. A day later, the BJP's mouthpiece echoes a few of the points that Mr Advani made. And in a section that's being interpreted as intended for Narendra Modi, the magazine suggests: "People who attain heights should raise the level of their thoughts...it's been seen, people who attain heights glare down at people below them."
The BJP downplayed the editorial. "Don't make a story out of nothing," said party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar. He stressed that the editorial does not take any names.
The editorial in the BJP magazine, the
Kamal Sandesh, also refers to the problem of in-fighting the party is struggling with in Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
In Gujarat, this week, Mr Modi's old-time rival, Keshubhai Patel, led a meeting of those who believe that Mr Modi functions like an autocrat. Last week, Mr Modi refused to attend the BJP's national executive meeting in Mumbai because another rival, Sunil Joshi, was present. It was only after Mr Joshi resigned as a member of the executive that the Gujarat chief minister agreed to participate in the session.
The BJP magazine offers its analysis without naming Mr Modi. "Parties can't run on the principle that only 'my word will prevail'," it says. Though the general consensus was that Mr Modi stole the show at the Mumbai meeting once he eventually got there, the magazine warns, "If we praise someone beyond what is necessary - we open doors to their fall."
There are comments that could apply to BS Yeddyurappa, who has been threatening to split the BJP in Karnataka unless he is reinstated as chief minister, despite a slew of corruption charges. The editorial warns of the danger of "an individual in a hurry" and states, "The party makes the individual, never the other way round. So the individual must acknowledge his debt to the party."
The article praises Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mr Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi as "the tallest leaders who have always operated under party guidelines."
Mr Advani on his blog, on Thursday, did not mention Mr Gadkari but said the handling of the crises in states like Karnataka had dented the BJP's campaign against graft. The comments were an indictment of Mr Gadkari's leadership. Mr Advani also suggested that the morale in the party was low and that the BJP was proving to be a disappointment to the public by failing to rise to the occasion and offer a viable alternative to the Congress-led UPA, which has been lurching from one corruption scandal to another. Mr Advani's opposition to the BJP amending its rules to grant Mr Gadkari a second consecutive term as party president is well known.