Advani makes veiled attack on Gadkari; calls for introspection

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BJP veteran L.K. Advani on Thursday made a thinly-veiled attack on the party President Nitin Gadkari and called for 'introspection' within the party over this current state.

Lending credence to the specualtion that he may have been unhappy with Gadkari, who was recently given a second term in office, that the results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the manner in which BSP ministers, removed by the then Chief Minister Mayawati on charges of corruption were welcome to the party, and the handling of the Jharkhand and Karnataka had 'undermined' its campaign against corruption.

Advani did not mention Gadkari during whose tenure all these developments have taken place. But he pointedly chose to praise Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley for the party's 'excellent' performance in the two houses of Parliament.

Writing in his blog, the first on organisational affairs after the party's national executive in Mumbai earlier where differences among leaders was in focus, he said the BJP had not risen to the occasion at a time when there was anger against the UPA government over various scams.

"I had said at the Core Group meeting that if people are now angry with the UPA government, they are also disappointed with us. The situation, I said, calls for introspection."

"When these days media-persons attack the UPA government for its string of scams, at the same time they regret that the BJP led NDA is not rising to the occasion. I, as a former pressman myself, feel they are reflecting public opinion correctly," Advani said.

Observing that the mood within the party 'these days is not upbeat', he said,

"The results in Uttar Pradesh (assembly polls), the manner in which the party welcomed BSP Ministers who were removed by Mayawati ji on charges of corruption, the party’s handling of Jharkhand and Karnataka – all these events have undermined the party’s campaign against corruption."

The criticism with regard to welcoming of BSP Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, an accused in NRHM scam, appeared to be a reference to Gadkari who was instrumental in the induction before the controversy forced Kushwaha to distance himself from the party.

He noted that the BJP has a sizable contingent of MPs in Parliament as against the niggardly two seats in 1984, that the party's performance in the two Houses of Parliament under Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley has been 'excellent' and the party is in power in as many as nine states on Thursday.

But, he quickened to add that this 'is no compensation for the lapses committed'.