Health problems have forced the former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to take a brake from active politics. Vajpayee has skipped the BJP’s national executive meeting in Bhopal for the first time in many years. His absence from the executive meeting has also raised the important question once again in the party that after Vajpayee, who?
Leader of Opposition Lal Krishna Advani is not the natural choice for many leaders such as Yashwant Sinha but the veteran leader enjoys great mass support tan any other leader within the party.
Even today also, Advani is the face of Hindutva in the BJP and people accept his ability to lead the Hindus in the nation despite of his remarks made on Jinnah in Pakistan. The country saw how he handled the Ram Setu issue and pushed Congress party on back foot.
The Party president Rajnath Singh lost the chance to lead the party from the front in the Ram Setu issue and Advani became the natural choice to attack on Congress-led UPA government on ram Setu issue. If we talk about the work done by Advani to transform the BJP as head of the ruling alliance NDA for full term in office, one would humbly accept his contributions.
He was the leader who successfully united Hindu votes in the country and created history with Vajpayee, the soft face of the party, completing NDA’s full term in office.
According to some political analyst, it was the compulsion of the coalition politics that Vajpayee became the Prime Minister in NDA government. Advani was the main contender for the post of PM but BJP was in need to get support from other parties and vajpayee was the sole acceptable face for the coalition partners.
The major question has been raised in the party again that who is to take over the reigns after Vajpayee? Advani has become again the natural choice to lead the party because UPA has unintentionally given a chance to BJP to go back to its favourite agenda of Hindutva and Advani is the champion of Hindutva.
Jaswant Singh said that Advani is the tallest leader after Vajpayee and hence he is the natural choice for the post of the prime minister from BJP. Bangaru Laxman said that nobody could question Advani’s credibility in national politics.
However, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and other ‘Advani adversaries’ are yet to come out openly in favor of their choice but the big question is that who is leader who can stand against Advani’s statute in party and national politics as well.
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