MUMBAI: The change of guard in the Bharatiya Janata Party has yet to take place, but already rumblings are being heard about the party president, L.K. Advani's handling of some recent major issues.

Senior party leaders gathered here have begun recalling the statement of the former External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, that after Mr. Advani demits office as BJP president at the end of the five-day Mumbai conclave that opened on Monday — as he himself has indicated he will — his continuation as Leader of Opposition, the second post he holds, would also become untenable. The weakened authority of the outgoing party president could be gauged here from the fact that some senior leaders have begun openly questioning that manner in which the party came out poorly in the handling of the expulsion of six BJP MPs — five from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha — on the cash-for-questions issue. Recalling that Mr. Advani had on the floor of Parliament on December 23 described these MPs as being "stupid", one party leader was astonished that "plain corruption was described by Mr. Advani as stupidity". The feeling is that Mr. Advani at the last minute changed the script agreed to by the party — that script was enacted in the Rajya Sabha where Mr. Jaswant Singh clearly said during the discussion on the expulsion issue that he would not like to see the House divided on the handling of corruption.

The walkout at the time of the vote in the Lok Sabha led by Mr. Advani, who made it clear that his party was dissociating itself from the expulsion resolution, is being criticised by a section of the party.

Even on the expulsion from the party of the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, there is a strong view that it was badly handled and could have been avoided. Some influential leaders here feel that Ms. Bharti could have been an asset to the party and that the expulsion was done in haste. Some are even of the view that "injustice was done to her".

Then there was the handling of the Constitutional amendment issue on reservations in private unaided educational institutions. The BJP opposed it all along; said the entire National Democratic Alliance would oppose it; and, after having sent this wrong political signal to Dalits, the Scheduled Tribes and the backward castes, it voted for the legislation having been deserted by several NDA constituents, a senior leader pointed out. That is also being seen as Mr. Advani's failure to come up with the right strategy in Parliament.

Finally, on the recent controversy related to the "decision" that general secretary Rajnath Singh would indeed replace Mr. Advani when he quits the post of party president, senior leaders confirmed that a decision had indeed been taken in favour of Mr. Singh.

They feel that Mr. Advani's statement contradicting this publicly was "wrong". Many leaders say this should have been avoided; that a formal statement on the decision should have been made to avoid a wrong signal going out that there was confusion in the party related to leadership change.

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