In the Modi set-up, Advani’s role still unclear

Before the BJP Parliamentary Party formally elects Narendra Modi as its leader on Tuesday, he was already at work discussing the contours of his Cabinet, the political developments in Bihar, and other niggling issues, especially the fate of senior leader LK Advani, who is unlikely to join the government.

The date for Modi’s swearing-in and the contours of the Cabinet will be announced on May 20 when the MPs meet.

On Sunday afternoon, Modi drove the short distance from Gujarat Bhavan, where he is staying, to Advani’s residence on Prithviraj Road. The two leaders were closeted for about 45 minutes. According to BJP President Rajnath Singh, Advani will play the role of the margdarshak (guide) in the BJP.

“Advaniji is our most senior leader, he is our mentor and margdarshak ,” the BJP chief said on May 16 in response to a question about Advani’s role in a Cabinet headed by Modi. Advani has been a mentor to Modi, as for almost all second generation leaders in the BJP.

Advani has groomed Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, the late Pramod Mahajan and was at the forefront of the move to protect Modi’s job in 2002 when former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee wanted him out.

But the two leaders have fallen out in the last two years and Advani was vocal about his opposition to project Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate.

He refused to attend the BJP’s national executive session in Goa last year, where Modi was first projected as the BJP’s campaign committee chairman, and resigned from the party subsequently.

Although Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders, especially Sushma Swaraj, managed to persuade Advani to withdraw his resignation, the relationship between him and Modi has never been the same again.

In this context, Rajnath Sigh’s remark about Advani playing the role of a “ margdarshak ” is being perceived as significant. Senior leaders have also dismissed as speculation media reports suggesting the Lok Sabha Speakership to Advani as a “role unbecoming for a former Deputy Prime Minister”. The only certainty with regard to Advani is that he will continue to remain the Chairman of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

About his own future role, the BJP chief has been less ambiguous. Contrary to suggestions that he will be replaced either by party General Secretary JP Nadda or Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Rajnath Singh has maintained that he will want to continue to serve in the organisation and not move to Modi’s Cabinet.

“The party has already given me one responsibility. I have said it before and I will say it again, I will continue working for the organisation,” Rajnath Singh told Business Line .

His continuation as BJP President is also considered critical in view of the party’s immediate plans in States such as Bihar, where Nitish Kumar has resigned as Chief minister, and in Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, where the governments are precariously placed.

The BJP is also looking to rapidly build on its gains in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana for which the party president and the Prime Minister will need to be completely in sync.

Besides meeting a host of other leaders — Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, senior BJP leader Ananth Kumar — Modi had a meeting with the BJP’s Bihar in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan.

In the wake of Nitish Kumar’s resignation, the BJP will be keenly watching the developments in the State.

Modi’s confidant and a key adviser in all political decisions Amit Shah has already maintained that “parties in government who performed badly in the Lok Sabha have lost the moral right to rule”. Although Shah clarified that he was not talking about the “longevity of any State government”, he stressed that such parties have “lost the people’s trust”. In connection with government formation at the Centre, BJP strategists, especially Rajnath Singh, have had several parleys with Sushma Swaraj. Senior leader Arun Jaitley, despite his loss in Amritsar, is still counted as a crucial player and tipped for a big role in the government.

Other favourites in government formation include Arun Shourie, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nitin Gadkari, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Anurag Thakur.

According to Rajnath Singh, the BJP will “fulfil its promise to the allies”, a clear indication that they will be accommodated in the Cabinet.

The party will also be looking to increase its strength in the Rajya Sabha, where its tally is just about 40 MPs. That is why Amit Shah has insisted that the BJP will “keep its doors open to any party, even if it has only one MP”.