BJP dithers over leader's choice

The BJP yesterday deferred its decision to select its leader of the opposition, with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee apparently reluctant to take the post.

The party leaders were also of the opinion that Vajpayee "has risen above such posts" and should adopt the mantle of "visionary leader" of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

It was being speculated the Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani would finally take over as the leader of the opposition.

As for the party, after the initial jolt, it was limping back to normal and leaders, who stayed indoors on Thursday, stepped out.

Sources disclosed that the BJP, which was "not at all expecting" such a drubbing, had even fixed the time and date for the swearing-in ceremony of the NDA government.

If the combination managed to return to power, it would have been sworn in on May 16 at 12.30pm.

Meanwhile it was learnt that the BJP general secretary, Pramod Mahajan had offered his MP bungalow at Safdarjung Road to Vajpayee, who would be moving out of 7 Race Course Road shortly.

The debacle, has also left the party without some of its forceful speakers in Lok Sabha, apart from Advani. Some of the BJP speakers, who stood up to the rival's onslaught at Lower House failed to return.

They include Yashwant Sinha, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanawaz Hussain, Rita Verma, Swami Chinmaya-nand, Haren Pathak and Vinay Katiyar. Its star speakers, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Jaswant Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are all in Rajya Sabha.

It was also learnt that Vajpayee, was upset with the outcome of the polls. "Cannot understand, how it happened," was his reported remarks to the partymen, sources said.

Vajpayee told his colleagues that they "have to sit and analyse the reasons for such a defeat." Recovering from the initial shock, Advani during the BJP's Parliamentary Board meeting told the leaders, "to forget the past and prepare for the forthcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra and Bihar."

Advani told the party leaders that "they have to move ahead."

As for the organisation, the party leaders, who could not find their voices and went missing during the first half of the day on Thursday, returned to base. BJP's chief strategist, Pramod Mahajan, sat back quietly as the party chief, M. Venkaiah Naidu defended him at a press conference yesterday.

"Will Mahajan step down, since he planned the entire election strategy, " were the questions being fired at him. "BJP believes in collective leadership and collective responsibility. One cannot hold an individual solely responsible," Naidu replied.

Others wanted to know, if Naidu was planning to quit. At this the BJP chief replied, "my mission remains unfulfilled."

Naqvi sitting by Naidu's side, looked glum. At times, Naidu lost his cool, when the scribes kept repeating, if the campaign styled Bharat Uday Yatra, PM's image failed to click. "If we had won, you would not be asking such questions, neither would I be here," Naidu retorted.

Mahajan seemed to have recovered by the end, poking fun at the Congress and left parties' blend of economic policy, which he said would be like a "hot icecream."

© The Asian Age