26.1.13

Change of Guard


BJP’s sudden move to bring back Rajnath Singh as party president to replace Nitin Gadkari may provide some reprieve to the main opposition but the decision is likely to pose fresh challenges in the run-up to the next general elections. Analysts say Singh’s return, coinciding as it does with the ascent of Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi in the ruling Congress, may necessitate a swift call on the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
The critical changes in the two national parties come at a time when both Congress and BJP have lost traction and there is palpable anxiety among their cadres over the need to arrest the downslide. Gadkari’s ouster followed an acknowledgement in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that the income-tax department probe into his links with the investors in the Purti group could prove damning to BJP in its campaign against the corruption scandals under the Congress regime.
The selection of the new president, however, showed that it was only a lack of agreement over his peers that eventually made him the compromise choice. “Sushma Swaraj was not acceptable to Arun Jaitley and vice versa; Venkaiah Naidu was not acceptable to RSS; and Narendra Modi was not interested in the job. So the job went to Rajnath Singh,” said a senior BJP leader close to the development. Singh, a former chief minister of UP, had earlier served as the party president for four years from 2005. BJP leaders concede that Modi will be the party’s best bet in the next elections.



The Shiv Sena’s national executive unanimously elected Uddhav Thackeray as president of the party. A resolution to this effect was passed at a meeting at Sena Bhavan in Mumbai on the occasion of party founder Bal Thackeray’s 86th birth anniversary.
Uddhav has been invested with all rights to make or cancel the appointments of Sena office-bearers. It is Uddhav’s wish not to be called ‘pramukh’, a title his father held.
In his maiden speech as Sena chief, Uddhav came down heavily on party rebels. “Those who want to quit the Sena are free to do so. But they should remember that rebels who left the Sena soon faded into oblivion,” he stated. Slamming Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde for his recent statement on Hindu ‘terror’ camps, Uddhav said, “Shinde’s irresponsible remark shows that the Hindus will have to fight for their legitimate rights in their own country.”
The Sena national executive passed a resolution equating Hindutva with nationalism. In another resolution, the party reiterated its commitment to the ‘sons-of-the-soil’ issue. The party also said it was committeed to women’s issues.
The national executive resolved to ‘freeze’ the post of Shiv Sena pramukh, which the late Thackeray Senior had held.
Sena leader Sanjay Raut, MP, said Aditya Thackeray, Uddhav’s son, would strengthen the party because of his youth-friendly image. Aditya’s Yuva Sena has been made one of the party’s affiliate wings.

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