‘Unwell’ Advani cancels meeting with RSS chief
Mohan Bhagwat was supposed to placate BJP leader
New Delhi: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani Wednesday cancelled his pre-scheduled meeting with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Bhagwat, who travelled from Nagpur, was slated to call on Advani in his bid to placate the former deputy prime minister. Advani, however, cancelled the meeting saying he was unwell. Advani also cancelled all the day’s engagements.
Sources close to Advani suggested that the meeting could take place today (Thursday), hoping the veteran leader recovers enough in time.
This is the second time in less than two weeks that Advani, who is supposed to be in robust health and mentally alert despite being 86, dropped out of a crucial meeting citing health issues.
Advani decided to skip the Goa conclave of India’s principal opposition party earlier this month on health grounds after realising that the current dispensation in BJP was determined to overlook his objections on appointment of his erstwhile protégé Narendra Modi, the Gujarat chief minister, to a key party post. Modi’s appointment as chairman of the BJP campaign committee saw the party patriarch resigning from all party posts, which he withdrew later under lots of pressure from the party, RSS and his followers.
Advani has had several run-ins with BJP’s ideological fountainhead RSS over the past eight years. He had quit as BJP president in June 2005 after RSS criticised his praise for Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah whom he termed as a secular leader while on a tour of his birthplace in Pakistan.
Although Advani was projected as the prime ministerial candidate in 2009 general elections, his inability to win power for the BJP saw Advani quitting as leader of opposition under the RSS pressure much against his wishes.
Advani is opposed to Modi’s elevation in the party hierarchy and nip in the bud any chances of RSS’s favourite Modi as the prime ministerial candidate during next year’s general elections.
Modi called on Advani for the first time after Goa conclave on Tuesday. He spent nearly 45 minutes with his once-mentor and the meeting was termed as positive. It was to be followed with RSS chief meeting Advani.
