Advani’s critics in party ride on Bhandari outburst

His caustic comments against the national executive—‘‘they yawn, sleep, eat and go away’’—has provided ammunition to Advani’s critics. They claim that it all started with Advani’s inability to take action against Uma Bharati despite her televised defiance. ‘‘He should have either backed her or sacked her, but he did neither,’’ said a senior leader.

RSS sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan lashing out at BJP leaders hasn’t helped matters. In fact, it set the stage for a virtual ‘‘free for all.’’ M A Naqvi, Pramod Mahajan and now Bhandari have all said or written things that have caused embarrassment to the party leadership.

Naqvi may have only repeated Advani’s words when he said a second generation leader would lead the BJP if the next general elections were held on schedule in 2009. But the panic reaction in the Advani camp—with Venkaiah Naidu insisting that Advani was and will be the supreme leader—undermined the ‘‘innocence’’ of Naqvi’s remark.

Mahajan and Bhandari’s criticism of the Gujarat riots ostensibly target Modi but since Advani continues to be one of Modi’s most ardent supporters, they can also be read as an attack on the BJP chief. That these leaders are echoing what Atal Behari Vajpayee said a year ago also indicates that Vajpayee is not quite as isolated in the party as he appears to be.

It’s also a split house within the party over the Parliament boycott. Advani’s critics feel that the boycott allowed the UPA to get away without any opposition. Incidentally, although most NDA meetings during the boycott were held under the chairmanship of Vajpayee, the former prime minister has not said a word in public about it.