Sushma Swaraj is all set to become the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha while Nitin Gadkari will take over as the new BJP president. BJP Parliamentary Party leader LK Advani will play the role of friend-philosopher-guide to the party and the RSS is learnt to have asked him to mentor the new party leadership.
Sources said indications of a change of guard in the BJP Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha could come as early as Friday?the party has called a BJP Parliamentary Party meeting at 5.30 pm on Friday where all its MPs are expected to be present. Earlier this week, Advani had showered fulsome praise on Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley for ?making the BJP an effective Opposition in the Houses of Parliament for the second successive session?.
On Saturday, the BJP Parliamentary Board will meet where party president Rajnath Singh is expected to formally announce his decision to quit from the post, the sources said. Nitin Gadkari will meet the Parliamentary Board members after being anointed the new party president. He is likely to reach New Delhi by Friday.
Advani had made it known to the RSS leadership that he would like Sushma to succeed him in the Lok Sabha. RSS chief Bhagwat and Advani had a broad understanding over Gadkari?s name too ?something that is expected to help the latter fight the huge odds that an ?outsider? would face in the BJP national team.
The finalisation of names was, however, preceded by a vicious, personalised power struggle in the BJP, and it was only after more than a nudge from the RSS that the BJP brass was able to zero in on the names for the key posts, and decide the contours of the generational shift. Bhagwat?s assertion earlier that he ?had been told that that none of the four Delhi leaders?M Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, and Ananth Kumar?would be the next BJP president? had led to a huge furore and heartburn in the party over growing interference of the RSS in BJP affairs.
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was considered a favourite for the top party job at one point, but Modi turned down the offer on two grounds, said sources. For one, with vicious factional feud being the order of the day, the BJP was not in the best of shape, and he would prefer to bide his time in his home state, the sources said. Two, Modi was not ready to kowtow to the RSS leadership on routine party affairs. Bhagwat and Modi are contemporaries in the RSS hierarchy, and the two are known to share a good rapport.
After passing on the baton to Sushma Swaraj in Lok Sabha, Advani is expected to play a role similar to one played by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the 14th Lok Sabha. Advani could be made NDA chairperson, and before that, the BJP Parliamentary Party chairperson?the BJP constitution presently has no provision for this position though. Source said Advani would continue to actively nurse his constituency of Gandhinagar.