The Hindu : New Delhi News : Khurana keeping his cards close to his chest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 03, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Khurana keeping his cards close to his chest

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, NOV. 2. Political activity in Delhi is expected to liven up with the return of the former Chief Minister, Madan Lal Khurana, to city politics. Incidentally, Mr. Khurana's entry comes at a time when the Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president, Harsh Vardhan, has formally taken over as the party boss in the Capital for a second innings.

Interestingly, Mr. Khurana, who never ceases to surprise, has once again tried to rake up another controversy that might not amuse the new leadership in the Central BJP. Though Mr. Khurana has been named in the party's re-constituted national executive announced by its national president, L.K. Advani, he has been non-committal about his future plans. "I have still not made up my mind on whether I would formally re-join BJP or not. I will only decide on these things after meetings the senior leaders and also my supporters who have been instrumental in hastening my return to city politics,'' Mr. Khurana said. Mr. Khurana had resigned as primary member of the BJP after he was given the job of the Rajasthan Governor. He is no longer a member of the BJP and will have to re-join the party in order to become active once again. Though Mr. Khurana has blamed his own senior party colleagues for the defeat in the December 2003 Assembly polls, he is of the view that things would have been quite different in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls had the demands made by the Delhi BJP been fulfilled by the previous NDA Government. The fact that Dr. Vardhan has been given another term unopposed just when Mr. Khurana has returned clearly indicates that the party high command is throwing its weight behind the soft-spoken Krishna Nagar MLA whose links with the Sangh Parivar are well known. It is understood that Mr. Khurana plans to get in touch with leaders of the other political parties and groups operating in Delhi in order to try and forge a formidable combination to take on the Sheila Dikshit Government.

Political observers are of the view that Mr. Khurana is working out various political combinations before taking the plunge. His supporters are of the view that if the party does not back or accord Mr. Khurana an honourable place in the scheme of things, the veteran leader might just re-float his Delhi Vikas Manch again to take up the cause of closure of industries and the regularisation of unauthorised colonies without paying any penalty or development charge. It is understood that the former Chief Minister plans to assess the situation over the next few days before announcing his plan of action. The most noticeable feature about Mr. Khurana's return to Delhi politics on Monday was the absence of senior party leaders in the welcome procession at Kirti Nagar. Except for the former Union Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, not a single senior BJP leader was there to welcome him. Even a majority of party MLAs were missing from the scene and so were his former colleagues in Delhi politics. Many within the party believe that the road could be tough one for Mr. Khurana and he would have to fight against all odds to once again regain his hold over Delhi.

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