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Journalism of Courage
Advanis blog frames the predicament of a party that has lost control over its story
In his latest blog,L.K. Advani looks ahead at the next general election and foresees the possibility of a government backed by the Congress or the BJP but headed by a prime minister from a third party. Recalling the precedents for such a system V.P. Singh,I.K. Gujral,H.D. Deve Gowda,Charan Singh and Chandra Shekhar the BJP senior concludes that such an arrangement would not last. The post is headlined Speculations about Congress fate in 2014,but his comments seem to refer more to the steady slide of his own party. They may even have been provoked by Team Annas long-overdue decision to dissolve the campaign and enter the electoral fray.
Equally problematic is the BJPs failure to arrive at a decision on its candidate for prime minister. The BJP has refused to confront the fact that irrespective of his efficiency as a chief minister,Narendra Modi carries the ghosts of Gujarat 2002 and that could stand in the way of a wider acceptance. Now,one reading of Advanis gesture towards a non-Congress and non-BJP PM in 2014 suggests that Modis erstwhile mentor may be openly acknowledging that constraint. The BJP would do well to read between the lines of the veterans blog not for what it says about the Congress,or his own ambitions,but about a party that has lost control over its own story.
