Bal Thackeray rages at Advani blog

A political storm has broken out over BJP patriarch LK Advani’s prediction of a non-BJP and non-Congress PM in 2014. The Shiv Sena has accused him of demoralising the party while BJP leader and former CM BS Yeddyurappa protested his Karnataka observations.

A political storm has broken out over BJP patriarch LK Advani’s prediction of a non-BJP and non-Congress PM in 2014. The Shiv Sena has accused him of demoralising the party while BJP leader and former CM BS Yeddyurappa protested his Karnataka observations.

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“If Advani has any doubts, he can come to me and I will give him a dose of morale and strength... the blog has put the BJP in a quandary,” Sena chief Bal Thackeray wrote in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna on Monday. He likened Advani’s observations, made in a post on Sunday, to a general heading into a war, without promising a favourable outcome.

“No point conceding defeat now, without even entering the boxing ring,” Thackeray said, wondering if the BJP was battling internal squabbles.

But another ally, Janata Dal (United), thought Advani’s assessment to be “impeccable”. The BJP leader knew the pulse of the people, Shivnand Tiwari said.

An angry Yeddyurappa shot off a letter to Advani, saying, “Making public such views regarding the state unit hurt the party.” Despite bungling, the BJP was ahead of the Congress in the southern state, Advani blogged.

In private, party colleagues agreed with senior leader Arun Jaitley’s assessment, made before Advani’s blog, that only the BJP or Congress could anchor a national alliance.

RSS ideologue MG Vaidya said it was too early to predict 2014 outcome.