The Hindu : National : Advani meets Vajpayee ahead of crucial party meet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 20, 2004

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National

Advani meets Vajpayee ahead of crucial party meet

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, JUNE 19. The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have taken a decision that the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, must be asked to relinquish office. However, the "timing" of Mr. Modi's exit continued to be a matter of discussion among the top leaders ahead of the party's crucial Parliamentary Board meeting here tomorrow.

The Leader of the Opposition, L.K. Advani, met the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, this evening, soon after the latter's return here from a holiday in Manali. The party president, Venkaiah Naidu, who is now in Chennai, is also expected to meet Mr. Vajpayee ahead of the meeting. Apparently, the leadership wants to arrive at an understanding on when Mr. Modi should be replaced. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader, Madan Das Devi, also met Mr. Vajpayee this evening.

Some in the party feel that Mr. Modi's exit should be postponed till after the BJP national executive committee meeting in Mumbai, starting on June 22, or after the Maharashtra Assembly elections, due in three months. But others feel that the issue should be dealt with now and put behind instead of allowing it to fester like an open wound.

Mr. Vajpayee had earlier in the day said in Manali that the Modi issue has now become "a thing of the past. Look at the new year and the coming Assembly elections and we have to face them."

This is being read as an assertion that the issue had already been dealt with.

A senior party leader today told The Hindu that the question now was one of timing. "No one in the Gujarat unit is happy with Mr. Modi's style of functioning. The decision that he should go had been almost taken even before Mr. Vajpayee's first remarks on the question several days ago."

The leaders agree that the problem before the party is how to "delink" Mr. Modi's ouster from the Gujarat riots two years ago and the Lok Sabha electoral debacle, to be discussed by the Parliamentary Board.

On this, there is agreement that the party cannot be seen to be punishing Mr. Modi for the riots or for the poll defeat. Even though there was considerable erosion in support, Gujarat did better than many other States. The party won 14 of the 26 seats in the State.

"We cannot be seen to be putting the blame for the defeat on Mr. Modi alone," a leader said.

The RSS stance on the issue continued to be that it had "no role to play." It maintained that "it was for the BJP leadership to decide" but Mr. Modi should not be blamed for either the Gujarat riots or the electoral defeat.

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