On a high, Jaitley may now eye top spot

It’s this potpourri that gives a peep into the post-2009 BJP, contours for which may have been drawn conclusively in this election. While the party will close ranks under L K Advani in the next Lok Sabha elections, the jigsaw could get tricky after that.

Gujarat CM Narendra Modi has been crisscrossing the country and holding forth on a host of national issues, but Modi has made it clear that “Gujarat Swarnim Jayanti”, scheduled for 2010, is his topmost priority. RSS chief K S Sudarshan, it’s believed, had Arun Jaitley’s name in mind for the party president’s post that eventually went to Rajnath Singh. Jaitley, thus, would be aiming for a bigger responsibility when Singh’s term ends. A section in BJP has always fancied the Modi-Jaitley combo as the party’s future, but things may not be that easy.

For one, even chief ministers like Vasundhara Raje have obliquely hit out at Modi, saying that she wouldn’t allow the state to turn “into a Gujarat” after the recent blasts. For another, Rajnath remains a favourite of RSS pointman Suresh Soni and Sangh Parivar affiliates like the VHP. He will pitch himself as the only “north Indian upper caste leader of substance” in the party. Watching from the sidelights would be Sushma, waiting to let the tide turn in her favour.

However, with Advani having made known his choice for the future, and the RSS, under Mohan Bhagwat, reconciled to Modi’s rise, Jaitley will only be too pleased with every successive election verdict under his belt.