The national executive meet of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bhopal beginning Friday may train its guns on the UPA government and its performance, but the real battle is within, as the issue of leadership is poised to occupy centrestage with the demand likely to be made to formally announce LK Advani as the party?s prime ministerial candidate for the next elections.
The leadership tussle has became even more crucial in the backdrop of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee?s absence from the meet. Vajpayee, said a party release on Thursday, was advised to stay away from the meet on account of ill health.
A section of the party leaders, considered to be Advani?s loyalists, have been readying plans to force the leadership agenda and project the former deputy prime minister as the natural choice for prime ministership. They maintained that in the present circumstances no one other than Advani qualifies to be BJP?s natural choice.
However, the view has already faced opposition from leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha, who have contended that the issue is yet to be settled. Sinha has even stated that becoming leader of Opposition doesn?t mean an automatic ascension to the prime ministerial post.
As the party is divided among many factions, BJP chief Rajnath Singh?s camp is being seen busy these days explaining the futility of raking up the leadership issue at the Bhopal meet. They have also been rubbishing reports that the RSS had agreed on Advani at its recent co-ordination meeting in Mumbai and instead claim that the RSS had expressed concerns over factional politics in the party.
Party spokesperson Prakash Javedkar maintained on Wednesday that the Bhopal meet would mainly focus on issues like ??incompatibility?? between the Congress and its Left allies following the nuclear stand-off, the alleged pro-Muslim bias of the government and the ??Ram Sethu?? controversy.