BJP’s damage control: His is the party line on Gujarat

Jaitley said: ‘‘Both Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani have described the Godhra incident and its aftermath as extremely unfortunate. There is nothing in the article that is against the party line.’’

He also endorsed Mahajan’s comments on the internal situation in the BJP, saying it was ‘‘an honest expression, a sincere expression of concern.’’

Party leaders also pointed out that the article, written on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the BJP, was first published in a Marathi daily on April 4 and in a Hindi daily on April 6.

The Hindi edition of the party organ, BJP Today carried the article on April 16 and though the English version appeared in the issue dated May 1-15, it was printed at the end of last month, a functionary of BJP Today said.

The article did not create any ripples in party circles since the Gujarat riots was only mentioned ‘‘in passing’’ and BJP leaders had not read it too closely, sources said.

However, the publicity it received yesterday has drawn the attention of a much wider circle and could create more fissures—both ideological and personal—within the BJP, it is felt. That is why partymen today were less interested in what Mahajan actually wrote but more as to why his piece received so much ‘‘belated’’ attention.

According to one view, the article is aimed at building Mahajan’s image as a moderate leader who can take on Atal Behari Vajpayee’s mantle. For some time now, there have been efforts—albeit without much success—to project Arun Jaitley and Pramod Mahajan as a team who can eventually take over the leadership on the lines of the Vajpayee-Advani duo.

The idea is that one of them will be the ‘‘organisation man’’ and the other the ‘‘public face’’ of the party. While Mahajan is more of an organisation man, he would also like to position himself as a more widely accepted leader, it is felt.

However, the Mahajan camp has not taken kindly to the ‘‘sudden publicity’’ received by the article and regards it as the ‘‘handiwork’’ of the anti-Mahajan lobby in the party.

‘‘The article has been around for over a month but reports have come out now because of the developments in the last few days,’’ a source close to Mahajan said.

The ‘‘developments in the last few days’’ was a clear reference to the fact that Mahajan has got a better deal than Arun Jaitley in the recent work distribution within the party.

Mahajan has been made in charge of elections in Assam where the BJP has the best chances to make an impact while Jaitley has been given the less promising Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Moreover, Mahajan has managed to get an ‘‘independent’’ portfolio in so far as he will report only to Advani and not Venkaiah Naidu who has been made the coordinator of southern states.

Mahajan’s re-emergence as a key party strategist—after the 2004 general elections and Maharashtra polls setback—has caused considerable heartburn in sections of the party who now want to bring him down a peg or two, the Mahajan camp feels.

Sources close to Mahajan feel that his detractors ‘‘engineered’’ the publicity to his ‘‘stray comments’’ on Gujarat in order to make the RSS, VHP and the hardliners in BJP turn against him.

Meanwhile, the Congress today demanded a clarification from Vajpayee and Advani over Mahajan’s remark on the Gujarat riots.

Congress spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters: ‘‘Mahajan has now accepted that post-Godhra riots were not only shameful but a blot. Vajpayee and Advani too had echoed similar opinion. Now it is time that the two BJP leaders come clean.’’

He sought to know if Mahajan’s remark was a result of some soul-searching or was it merely intended for public consumption. ‘‘We hope that there will not be a long silence by Advani and Vajpayee on this point,’’ Sharma said.