Rajnath defers ‘team selection’ till Jan 20

The decision, which took even senior members of the outgoing team by surprise, stems from three reasons. First, Rajnath is unwilling to go in for a revamp during the inauspicious malmas — the month will end with Makar Sankranti on January 14.

The more important reason, though, is that he wants the National Council to ratify his election to the top post before taking any major decisions. A formal ratification is particularly important since questions have been raised about the manner in which he was ‘‘selected’’ and then anointed, without paying heed to the necessary ‘‘constitutional’’ procedures.

The third reason is that Rajnath needs more time to get people of his choice on board without alienating powerful members of the old team.

In that context, Rajnath’s compliments to his erstwhile bete noire Kalyan Singh were significant. Both Venkaiah Naidu and Kalyan Singh — vice presidents under Advani — are believed to be averse to working under the new president. But while Rajnath did not say anything about Naidu, he went out of his way today to describe Kalyan as the ‘‘topmost’’ leader of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh whose term as CM was bemisaal in the state’s history. The subtext was clear: Kalyan, the prodigal who returned to the fold after a bitter parting, would once again be projected as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the UP Assembly polls early next year. Whether Kalyan will fall for that sop and remain a loyal member of the new team will depend on Rajnath’s political and persuasive skills.

The tougher task will be to choose the new general secretaries—the most powerful party posts after the president. The BJP constitution allows seven general secretaries and the three vacancies have been caused by the expulsion of Uma Bharati, the resignation of Sanjay Joshi and the elevation of Rajnath Singh.

While there is talk of drafting a senior Sangh pracharak — the name of former ABVP organising secretary and current RSS sah baudhik pramukh Dattatreya Hosabale is doing the rounds— he may not agree to be deputed to the BJP.

Another contender for the post is outgoing vice-president Bal Apte, who delivered a stern warning against the BJP’s deviations from its core ideology at the concluding session of the Mumbai meet last week. Although Apte is not a pracharak, he is close to both the RSS and sections of the BJP. In fact, there is already talk of an emerging Rajnath Singh-Pramod Mahajan-Bal Apte trio that is set to replace the ‘‘Advani coterie’’.

BJP chief plays it safe, won’t go to Pakistan yet

New Delhi: New BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Thursday said he would not visit Pakistan. “Till cross-border terrorism comes to an end, we will not expect even greetings from them,” he said on the possibility of visiting the country. Singh’s predecessor L K Advani had to step down after his praise of Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah at his Karachi mausoleum in June last year which ruffled the feathers of the Sangh Parivar. — PTI