BJP top brass meet to clarify JD induction issue

NEW DELHI, JULY 25: With the issue of the unilateral' induction of the Janata Dal (JD) into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) snowb...

NEW DELHI, JULY 25: With the issue of the unilateral’ induction of the Janata Dal (JD) into the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) snowballing into a major controversy, senior leaders of the BJP led by party president Kushabhau Thakre on Sunday met Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L K Advani to sort things out.

Accompanied by party general secretaries M Venkaiah Naidu and Narendra Modi, Thakre met the Vajpayee-Advani duo for about an hour at the Prime Minister’s official residence this evening. They are also learnt to have discussed the possibility of its MLAs joining the Chautala government in Haryana. While admitting that they had discussed the Karnataka and Haryana imbroglios, Naidu, who is in-charge of the party affairs in Karnataka, refused to spell out the details. “I have conveyed the feelings of the state unit about the recent moves to bring the JD within the folds of the NDA,” he said.

The BJP’s Karnataka unit, led by its president B S Yediyurappa and Union CivilAviation Minister Ananth Kumar, has been steadfast in opposition to any deal with the discredited’ JD which has been ruling the state for the last five years.

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So much so that they have threatened to go it alone in both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls should the Lok Shakti persist with its efforts to forge a tie-up with Dal faction led by Chief Minister J H Patel. Their stand received a fillip when Union Minister L K Advani too expressed reservations over the manner in which Samata Party chief George Fernandes and Commerce Minister Rama Krishna Hegde went about hammering a deal with the JD. After its initial enthusiasm about the move to rope in Patel in Karnataka, the BJP’s top leadership finds itself in a mess in the State. Today’s meeting is seen as an attempt to wriggle out of the situation.

A top party leader said the PM, who is keen to be seen as having adopted a neutral position on the tie-up issue, is likely to leave the matter to Advani and Naidu to talk it out with troika of George, Hegde andPatel. “A compromise on the Lok Sabha seats is possible, but the issue of distribution of Assembly seats between the rejuvenated Lok Shakti and the BJP is going to be very difficult,” the leader added.

Strangely, the BJP does not see anything wrong in the induction into the NDA of JD president Sharad Yadav and former Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Their decision to join hands with the BJP-Samata alliance in Bihar, the party feels, will give a boost to its prospects in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.