Kalyan agrees to step down

Advani reportedly impressed upon Kalyan the need for him to step down in the interest of the party. He promised appropriate action against BJP legislators who openly demanded a change of leadership in the State.

The BJP general secretary, K N Govindacharya, in-charge of the party’s UP affairs, too is learnt to have played a role in mollifying Kalyan.

Earlier, Kalyan had publicly refused to accept any post — either in the party organisation or in the Union Government. The Chief Minister had dared the party leadership to take action against him fast.

Kalyan has proposed the name of Irrigation Minister, Om Prakash Singh, a Kurmi (backward caste) leader as his successor while the party president Kushabhau Thakre is learnt to be favouring the PWD Minister Kalraj Mishra. Kalyan has also mended fences with the state BJP chief Rajnath Singh, with whom he has waged a cold war for the past one year, sources close to the Chief Minister said.

Kalyan apparently wants his detractors to be axed before any action was taken against him. A large number of BJP candidates had accused Kalyan of sabotaging their electoral chances through the bureaucracy and his loyalists within the party.

Kalyan Singh had also not bothered, despite several requests from party leaders, to refute expelled BJP leader Sakshi Maharaj’s allegations that Kalyan helped Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh during elections and the two would unite after the elections. Kalyan’s silence lent credence to Sakshi’s allegations and affected the BJP’s electoral fortune.

But any action in UP would be possible only between November 5 (after the BJP’s national executive meeting) and November 10 (before the Prime Minister leaves for Durban on his week-long visit to attend the convention of Commonwealth heads of states), senior party leaders said.