With controversies refusing to give the BJP any respite, the latest being former chief minister Vasundhara Raje?s near rebellion and senior leader Jaswant Singh?s just- released book praising Jinnah, the party will assemble in Shimla from Wednesday for a three-day brainstroming session that was originally planned to go into the drubbing it got in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Jaswant Singh, sources said, is likely to be asked to submit an explanation on his book in the context of the embarrassment it has brought to the party. The BJP on Tuesday officially distanced itself from Jaswant Singh?s views on the Pakistan founder, maintaining that the role played by Jinnah in the partition of the country cannot be wished away.
?Views expressed by Jaswant Singh in his book ?Jinnah ? India, Partition, Independence? does not represent views of the party. In fact, the party completely dissociates itself from the contents of the book,? party chief Rajnath Singh told reporters here. One of his detractors, Murli Manohar Joshi also took potshots at Singh, saying that the portrayal of Jinnah was based on ?wrong facts?.
The controversy over the book is only expected to give a fresh handle to many in the party who have no love lost for him to train their guns on Jaswant Singh, given that he had raised uncomfortable questions immediately after the polls. The leader had openly challenged the appointment of Arun Jaitley as leader of the Oppposition in the Rajya Sabha, saying at a party meet that there must be a relation between performance and reward. He was joined by senior leaders Yaswant Sinha and Arun Shourie, who raised questions over accountability for the performance in the polls.
A three member committee headed by party leader Bal Apte was appointed as a result, whose report that will identify causes for the poll debacle is now expected to be tabled and discussed at the Shimla meet. The committee has prepared its report on the basis of inputs from various states, although the focus is on north Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where the party could not perform upto expectations. All top leaders including L K Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley will be attending the chintan baithak in which the strategy for forthcoming Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana would also be discussed, party leaders said. A reference to the defiance shown by Vasundhara Raje, who has refused to step down as leader of Oppposition in the Rajasthan Assembly as the leadership?s wishes, is also expected to be made by her detractors.
The RSS, meanwhile, has offered its own ?discussion points? to the Shimla conclave with the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat advocating a younger leadership for the BJP. ?Yes, they would need to transit to younger generation. When, how and where is their privilege,? Bhagwat told a TV channel, asserting that he had talked about younger leadership in the BJP since 2003. The RSS also took a dim view of the increased infighting in the party, saying that it would have to stop.
