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Advani pats team to silence critics
Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani’s pat for his team is being seen as a signal to critics within the party that his nominees were doing a fine job and would not be disturbed.
Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani’s pat for his team is being seen as a signal to critics within the party that his nominees were doing a fine job and would not be disturbed.
Critics within the party and its ideological fount, the RSS, have been upset with Advani for refusing to specify any time frame for his own exit after he appointed Sushma Swaraj as his deputy in the Lok Sabha and Arun Jaitley as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.
They have also been trying to rake the issue of Jaitley and Swaraj being Brahmins heading the party in Parliament to try to make a case for outgoing chief Rajnath Singh to be considered as Advani’s successor in the Lok Sabha.
They are disappointed that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat agreed to let Advani decide when he should make way for a younger leader after Nitin Gadkari takes over as president of BJP.
Advani’s praise came at the weekly meeting of the BJP parliamentary party on Tuesday – in what was supposed to be his valedictory speech before the conclusion of the session.
With Gadkari due to be installed to succeed Rajnath Singh any time after the conclusion of Parliament’s session on December 21, the focus will be on Advani. But Bhagwat has made it clear that the RSS is not concerned about the party’s parliamentary wing, and he has left that for Advani to decide.
Swaraj said Advani was pleased that the BJP put up a strong front on all three issues bothering the UPA government now – Telangana, climate change and corruption. Advani thought the BJP’s speakers led by Jaitley and Swaraj had done an effective job for the party on the Liberhan’s report. “The government’s bid to divide the Opposition by leaking the report didn’t help as non-Congress parties united to corner it on the issue of price rise and its flip-flop climate stand,” Swaraj quoted Advani as saying.
