Bihar Governor in bid for BJP top post

Earlier this week, Joshi had a long discussion on Bhandari’s prospects with BJP general secretary Narendra Modi and former Madhya Pradesh state president Laxmi Narain Pandey at a dinner hosted at the Safdarjung Enclave residence of a party sympathiser Ravindra Sinha. Bhandari too, is learnt to have spoken to Modi and Joshi there.

Bhandari is learnt to have spoken to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for one-and-half hours on Thursday. "I don’t know if my name is being discussed in the party for the post of president" Bhandari told this reporter on Friday. He refused to say that he was not in the fray or would not take up the post. "What is the problem if there is consensus in the party on my name?" he asked.

In the BJP, office bearers are ‘elected’ through consensus, almost as a rule. There was a consensus on the present incumbent Kushabhau Thakre’s name some seven months before the actual announcement. Rules of the game seem to have changed in ‘the party with a difference’ as no one, not even top leaders, appear sure of the next chief.

Thakre, who had so far refused to run for a second term on the ground of deteriorating health, suddenly finds himself fit enough to be in the race again. So it was no surprise that some BJP leaders smelt foul play when Modi issued a statement, immediately after the dinner at Safdarjung Enclave, quoting Thakre that his health did not permit him to serve a second term. "I merely said what Thakreji has been saying on various fora for a long time," Modi told The Indian Express while denying meeting Bhandari.

Thakre was operated twice during the past two months and has been bed-ridden during most of this time. Yet, when UP Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta came calling on him earlier this week, Thakre made it a point to meet him in the party headquarter and not his residence. "He apparently wanted to demonstrate that his health permits him to attend office," claims a senior party leader.

Not content with dropping subtle hints, Thakre did not completely rule out the possibility of his running for a second term when Vajpayee rang him up recently to inquire about his health. Thakre is learnt to have told Vajpayee that he will act on the advice of his colleagues and friends. Thakre refused to comment when asked whether he would accept a second term.

The sudden turnaround in Thakre’s attitude is being attributed to the sense of threat being perceived by him from Bhandari, the senior-most BJP leader who was one of the founders of the Jan Sangh. Bhandari-loyalists claim that his candidature had Vajpayee’s blessings while detractors say he was merely being made a guinea pig by Joshi, to test the political waters in a post-Vajpayee scenario.

The contest between Bhandari and Thakre appears to have eclipsed the candidature of senior vice president Jana Krishnamurthy, who reportedly enjoys Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani’s patronage. Krishnamurthy, by virtue of being senior-most among the current batch of office-bearers, was working as acting president during Thakre’s illness. He was a hot favourite to be his successor.

Jana’s name has been opposed by his one-time protege M Venkaiah Naidu, the BJP general secretary who apparently perceives him to be a stumbling block in his political plans. If Krishnamurthy is elected president of the BJP, no other South Indian’s candidature for the post is likely to be considered favourably at least for the next couple of terms, party leaders claim.

It was apparently on Naidu’s advice that Advani wanted to appoint Jana as Governor but Krishnamurthy turned down the offer saying he wanted to work for the party only. A section of the party has also been floating the name of Union Minister of State for Railways Bangaru Laxman, a Dalit leader from Andhra, who was in the reckoning during the last presidential election as well.