The Hindu : Front Page : Kulkarni quits BJP post

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Monday, Jul 04, 2005

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Kulkarni quits BJP post

Neena Vyas

To continue as ordinary party worker

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Sudheendra Kulkarni, who also doubled up as party president L.K. Advani's speechwriter, resigned from his position in the central team of party office-bearers on Sunday. Party sources confirmed that Mr. Advani had accepted his resignation.

In a statement to the media, Mr. Kulkarni said that although he had resigned from his post, he would continue as "an ordinary worker." He added that the party "needs the leadership of [the former Prime Minister] Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani because of their wisdom and wide acceptability."

The resignation, widely expected after the Jinnah controversy that nearly saw Mr. Advani exit as party president, has come when the BJP's straying away from the Hindutva path is under discussion by senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders at a meeting in Surat. Several BJP leaders privately admitted that Mr. Kulkarni was asked by Mr. Advani to put in his papers and that the opinion in the party also favoured his early exit.

"Sacrificial offering"

The Advani camp, to which most second generation leaders belong, is believed to have planned Mr. Kulkarni's exit as a "sacrificial offering" to the RSS and to help Mr. Advani keep his jobs as party chief and the Leader of the Opposition.

It is yet to be seen whether the RSS will be appeased by this offer.In his statement, Mr. Kulkarni said that the decision to resign was "his own," that he "had no regrets" and that he suffered from "no guilt for whatever he had done or written."

Mr. Kulkarni, who joined the BJP in 1996, had served in the Prime Minister's Office with Mr. Vajpayee and was his "musings writer" and speechwriter.

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