The BJP’s internal feud appears likely to end soon, with the warring factions of L.K. Advani and Narendra Modi calling for a truce. The Gujarat chief minister visited Mr Advani at his residence here on Tuesday and urged him to join the campaign, and the saffron patriarch reportedly agreed to this, sources said.
The BJP is now preparing to show an united face with Mr Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and Narendra Modi preparing to share the dais during the forthcoming campaign for the next Lok Sabha election.
Putting the Hindutva issue on the backburner, Mr Modi is also likely to send a positive signal to the minorities, including Muslims, promising them development and good governance.
Mr Modi, who met the party’s office-bearers at the BJP headquarters here Tuesday evening gave a clear signal: “Muslims ko saath lekar chalna hain (We have to carry the Muslims with us)”.
Mr Modi’s campaign, that is expected to be “aggressive and effective”, will focus on corruption, price rise, internal security, lawlessness and policy issues. Muslims
will be once again be told they were being “hoodwinked by secular forces”. At the meeting, Mr Modi told the party leaders that the minorities are “more interested in development and good governance” than being “used as a communal card”. The meeting was attended by Ananth Kumar, Thawar Chand Ghelot, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Amit Shah, Dharemendra Pradhan, Saudan Singh and Sudhanshu Trivedi.
In New Delhi for the first time after being named head of the BJP poll campaign committee, Mr Modi, who arrived Monday night, swung into damage control mode on Tuesday morning. First he called on party patriarch L.K. Advani and senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who have been opposing his projection at the national level. Sources said at his meeting with Mr Advani, the Gujarat CM not just urged him to join the campaign but also assured him that neither he nor the party would take any major step without consulting him. Mr Advani, who was reportedly was upset at the way Mr Modi was projected at the Goa national executive meeting, has apparently agreed to bury the hatchet. The meeting lasted for nearly 45 minutes.
Mr Modi later also called on former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the latter’s residence.
At the party headquarters, Mr Modi asked BJP leaders to put forth their suggestions on the forthcoming Assembly elections in several states due later this year as well as the Lok Sabha polls to ensure the party’s victory.
Earlier Tuesday Mr Modi also met Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, where a plan of `59,000 crores was approved for Gujarat, `500 crores more than what the state government had sought. Mr Modi, however, also raised a litany of complaints against the Centre at that meeting.