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Advani aide calls Modi autocrat, Rajnath foxy
Veteran BJP leader LK Advani may have come to terms with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi overtaking him as the face of the party, but close aide Sudheendra Kulkarni still hasn’t. 'Perfect democrat' Advani humiliated, marginalised, says Kulkarni. Vikas Pathak reports.
Veteran BJP leader LK Advani may have come to terms with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi overtaking him as the face of the party, but close aide Sudheendra Kulkarni still hasn’t.
In a strongly-worded letter posted on rediff.com, he condemns Modi and calls party president Rajnath Singh ‘foxy’.
Kulkarni — who headed Advani’s campaign in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and became part of the BJP’s vision document team as late as 2012 writes: “An autocrat is sought to be enthroned, and a perfect democrat is being marginalised and humiliated.
A self-centered leader who has shown that he cares two hoots for the party organisation has suddenly become all powerful, whereas a selfless leader who toiled for many decades to build the party is being cast aside.”
Furthermore: “A new ‘strong’ leader, Narendra Modi, has emerged in the BJP, whom many in the party and the Sangh Parivar are over-eager to see as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. However, there are some in the BJP and the RSS, and many outside, who reckon that he is not suitable to become India’s prime minister. There is no evidence of Modi being a collaborative team worker within his own state; how then can he be expected to manage a coalition?”
About Rajnath Singh, he says: “And a foxy party president, who has his own astrologically-induced delusions of becoming India’s prime minister, has allowed himself to be prodded and dictated by vested interests.”
Kulkarni then bats for Advani as prime minister, calling him a “Gandhian” and “superfit”. “He believes in the Mahatma’s maxim — ‘In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place’,” he writes. Kulkarni sees this as the motivation for Advani’s resignation.
“Advani’s message serves a timely warning to the party. The way forward for the BJP, if it is to avoid being marginalised and even decimated is to reinstate Advani as its guiding force. Amongst all the active political leaders in India today, he is the most suited to head the future government,” he concluded the letter.
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