Focus blurred, BJP waits for either of Big Two to blink

Following up their efforts of yesterday, Jaswant Singh (who shares a good rapport with both Vajpayee and Advani) and Advani’s chief troubleshooter Venkaiah Naidu went to and fro between the BJP chief’s residence at Prithviraj Road and the former PM’s home on Krishna Menon Marg barely a kilometre away to work out a compromise formula.

But by evening, it became clear that they had failed to bridge the emotional distance separating the two.

At one point in the afternoon, party leaders indicated that a statement would be issued later in the day. Though no one was quite clear about the contours of the compromise, the buzz in party circles was that Vajpayee would clarify that he had only meant to highlight the ‘‘procedural lapse’’ involving Khurana’s expulsion and had not attacked the party leadership as such. Advani, too, would agree to review the expulsion and give Khurana a hearing.

But no such statement was issued underlining that neither Vajpayee nor Advani was in a mood to relent just yet. Advani, sources said, was ‘‘deeply anguished’’ at the manner in which Vajpayee went public with his reservations on the Khurana issue. Vajpayee, he felt, could have spoken to him privately instead of embarrassing him and the party which was just about recovering from the bruising ‘Jinnah crisis.’’

But Advani’s ‘‘anguish’’ was matched by Vajpayee’s own ‘‘sense of hurt’’ at being repeatedly sidelined in party affairs. Vajpayee, who had been made to retract his remarks against Modi last year, was unwilling to revise his stand on Khurana overnight.

The Vajpayee-Khurana axis, in fact, got strengthened today with the expelled Delhi leader going across to see his ‘‘mentor’’ and then talking at length to the media. Khurana reiterated his dedicated service to the BJP and RSS for several decades and said he wanted to continue to serve the party. He had also asked Vajpayee to arrange a meeting between him and Advani. Vajpayee, he added, was ‘‘like Krishna for me and I am his Arjun.’’

That remark hardly endeared him to the Advani camp which felt that any leniency shown to Khurana would erode the authority of the BJP chief. After all, Khurana had been expelled because of his relentless personal attacks on Advani as well as his demand that Modi be asked to step down to remove the ‘‘taint’’ of the Gujarat riots.

To revoke Khurana’s expulsion would not only be slap on the face of Advani but also embolden the dissidents in Gujarat, Advani loyalists feel.

One way out, party sources said, would be for Khurana to make an unqualified apology for his remarks. But to end the current stalemate, a series of retractions would be necessary: Vajpayee’s retraction of his statement, Advani’s retraction of Khurana’s expulsion, Khurana’s retraction of his anti-Advani, anti-Modi remarks.

With general secretaries Pramod Mahajan, Sanjay Joshi, and Rajnath SIngh returning to the capital tonight, a full-fledged meeting of office-bearers to take stock of the situation may take place tomorrow. Arun Jaitley, along with Uma Bharati and Sushil Modi, met Advani today but they only discussed the Bihar polls. While Advani went on a family outing to a local Ganesh temple, Jaswant Singh made one more visit to Vajpayee’s residence. Jaitley too is slated to meet the former PM tomorrow.