Presidential Campaign

Let down by his favourites, Advani is wooing grassroots leaders like Uma Bharati, Narendra Modi and Vasundhara Raje to mobilise support and restore credibility in his darkest hour

PICTURE SPEAK

STALEMATE: Bharati (right) steps up the pressure for Gaur's ouster, but is asked to wait

Uma Bharati recently counted Che Guevara and L.K. Advani among the dominant influences in her life. But as she is fast realising, Che-style revolution from party trenches doesn't work. A more pragmatic alternative is Advani. In her latest bid to recapture the Madhya Pradesh chief ministership, the party president is turning out to be Bharati's chief supporter among central leaders. But then she is not the only mass leader whom the beleaguered Advani is wooing these days. Realising that none of the lightweight but ambitious second-rung leaders he groomed are going to stand by him in his hour of crisis, he is endearing himself to grassroots leaders outside the ambit of the party headquarters. So in the past few months, when Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia faced dissidence in their states, it was Advani who came to their rescue.

Advani knows too well that he needs Modi, Bharati and Scindia much more than they need him, particularly as the countdown to his December resignation has begun. Except for Jaswant Singh, none of the other leaders have taken up his clarion call for a debate on the RSS-BJP relations. Even his old pal A.B. Vajpayee told the media at a book launch in Delhi on October 15, "rss hastakshep nahin karta (the RSS does not interfere in BJP affairs)." From the second rung, Sushma Swaraj was the first to question the need to have a debate on the BJP-RSS equation, and just last week, General Secretary Pramod Mahajan ruled out a discussion on the subject, claiming that the RSS and the BJP were just like "a parent and a child". But what must have been the unkindest cut of all was Advani acolyte M. Venkaiah Naidu's refusal to endorse his leader's call. It may have been lonely at the top, but for the isolated boss it is even lonelier on the way down. This explains his frenetic attempts to invest in popular leaders.

PICTURE SPEAK

Modi and Scindia

At a meeting of the central leadership in Delhi last fortnight, Advani loyalist Jaswant mooted the idea of sending back Bharati to Madhya Pradesh as chief minister. The proposal was shot down by her other second-rung colleagues. Mahajan wondered whether rewarding indiscipline would send the right message to the party. Advani said Bharati had apologised for her behaviour, but others disagreed. "Uma had been rude to others besides you. But she has not apologised to the rest. We are her colleagues as well," said a party vice-president. Advani then advised Bharati to wait till after the Bihar elections. But Bharati knows that Advani's word is not good enough. Her supporters claim that it was only after Vajpayee told them that Gaur would be replaced once the Bihar polls were over that she called off her agitation and agreed to resume her Bihar campaign. With his resignation roadmap charted out, few are treating Advani with the awe he used to evoke. He reportedly told a friend that he is really "a non-functional president now". He was also upset that the party officials did not endorse his proposal of making Varun Gandhi a general secretary. Neither the RSS nor the second-rung BJP leadership wants Advani to make fresh appointments when he is merely serving out his notice period.

The problem is that Advani doesn't see this as a notice period. He wants to use the time to build his image as a party patriarch. Since he lacks Vajpayee's stature, he is using leaders like Bharati to build his base. At a time when the BJP is out of power, the chief ministers are the only symbols of power and mass base. To take on the Rajya Sabha-based second rung, Advani needs these satraps on his side.

So in September this year, when Keshubhai Patel stepped up the campaign for Modi's ouster, Advani rushed to Ahmedabad where he publicly praised the chief minister. During the Jinnah crisis, Modi was one of the few leaders who had stood by Advani. Clearly his vote of confidence sent out a strong message to the cadre and the public. Modi's recent electoral sweep in the Ahmedabad civic polls has shown that he remains an electoral ace, as does Bharati.

Despite the fact that none of her colleagues want Bharati reinstated as chief minister, the feisty sanyasin had rounded up over a 100 of the 173 BJP MLAs to sign a memorandum in her favour. Bharati's supporters had asked for a meeting of the BJP state legislature party where they can force a show of strength. Her rivals criticised her for leaving the Bihar campaign midway to further her ambitions. "There is a time and a place for these things," says a party spokesperson. But Bharati knows that her supreme leader is running out of time. Current Chief Minister Babulal Gaur has already indicated his loyalty by speaking out against Advani during the Jinnah fiasco. Bharati has unconsciously backed Advani's line in her October 9 letter to RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan. She is said to have accused RSS Joint Secretary Suresh Soni, BJP General Secretary Sanjay Joshi and Naidu of conspiring against her. This is being interpreted as an endorsement of Advani's accusation of the Sangh's interference in BJP affairs.

While Modi and Bharati are Hindutva icons, Scindia is the Sangh's latest cover girl. The September issue of RSS mouthpiece Organiser put her on the cover and praised her. Last year, Raje was pulled up by the BJP central leadership for encouraging durbar-style politics in the state. But a lot has changed since then, including Advani's fortunes. In October this year, when the flamboyant chief minister was accused by two of her ministers for spying on them, Advani invited her to Delhi where he offered her lunch and reassurance.

At a time when Mahajan has called for "collective leadership" within the party, Advani is busy trying to collect as many leaders as he can.

-with Ambreesh Mishra

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