Advani seen as PM's Man Friday

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani is fast emerging as the chief firefighter for Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Faced with stiff opposition to his government's liberalisation policies, Vajpayee has once again turned to his deputy for help.

This time around, the task at hand for Advani is to take his Bharatiya Janata Party's ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) into confidence since its opposition has stalled disinvestment of two public sector petroleum companies, creating problems for the country's economy.

While the RSS has been opposed to privatisation of companies in vital petroleum and defence production sectors, one of its organs Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) is more vocal than the opposition in criticising the government's liberalisation policy.

According to reports, Vajpayee requested Advani to initiate talks with the RSS and the SJM leadership when the two senior most leaders met last weekend before Vajpayee left on a four-day state visit to Maldives on Sunday.

Advani was first asked to sort out the mess created by the cabinet's decision to create new railway zones, which created a political storm.

After failing to make the enraged former railway minister Mamata Banerjee see the point that it was an administrative decision, it was Advani's recommendation that bowing before her pressure would make the government vulnerable to more such pressures from other allies; it led to the cabinet rejecting her demand and Mamata pulling her Trinamool Congress out of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Once again, Advani had to play an active role when the elite Rajdhani Express met with an accident recently while Vajpayee was on a visit to the United States.

While the Bihar state government and the federal railways ministry locked horns over who was responsible for the tragedy, Advani's timely intervention prevented India from becoming a laughing stock as overzealous officials rushed to blame Pakistan in support of their sabotage theory.

Although a known Pakistan basher himself, Advani said that blaming Pakistan for each and everything that too without any basis will weaken India's case before the international community that its western neighbour was supporting terrorists active in the Kashmir Valley.

"It not only reflects Advani's growing stature and greater involvement in the government's running, but also the fact that Vajpayee's reliance on him is increasing by the day. The two senior most leaders working in tandem is the best news for us," a senior functionary of their BJP commented.

According to sources, Advani has also been authorised to talk to the Orissa state government which is opposed to the proposed disinvestment of NALCO.

It was embarrassing for the Vajpayee government to find that despite being an ally, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik did not attend office on Friday while the state government supported the Friday's strike in the state opposing NALCO's privatisation.

Defence Minister George Fernandes, Coal and Mines Minister Uma Bharti and Petroleum Minister Ram Naik are among the ministers who openly opposing the government's liberalisation policy.

Sources said that Advani is also expected to talk to them so that they stop airing their views against the government's policy in the public, as it is giving signal that the government is a house divided over its disinvestment policy.

Advani's close links with the RSS and the fact that he has very close ties with SJM chief S. Gurumurthy are cited as the reasons for the additional responsibility given to him.

It was at his intervention that the RSS withdrew its earlier opposition to throwing open the insurance sector to the private companies.

Despite growing opposition from within and outside, the government is unwilling to dump it saying it has travelled too far on this road and there can be no looking back.

Any change in policy, it is pointed out, will create economic havoc since the resultant shortage of funds will have a direct bearing on several of its pro-people policies.