Stratagems and Spoils

After a season of tumult, the BJP prepares to bet everything on Narendra Modi

01 July 2013
LK Advani had repeatedly warned BJP president Rajnath Singh of “adverse” consequences if Modi was appointed chairman of the party’s campaign committee
MANISH SWARUP / AP PHOTO
LK Advani had repeatedly warned BJP president Rajnath Singh of “adverse” consequences if Modi was appointed chairman of the party’s campaign committee
MANISH SWARUP / AP PHOTO

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THE RUMBLINGS BEGAN just before the storm, and the wise men predicted its arrival with uncanny precision.

In the first week of June, a few days before the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive meeting in Goa, the veteran party leader and former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi placed an urgent phone call to Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi, the second-in-command at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). At the upcoming meeting in Goa, the party planned to announce that the chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, would be elevated to chair the party’s campaign committee. The purpose of Joshi’s call was to warn the RSS leader of the chaos that would ensue. “Aap baat keejiye Advaniji se,” Joshi said. “Jo ho raha hai theek nahin hai. Tamasha ho jayega. (Talk to Advaniji. What is happening is not good. There will be a public spectacle.)”

Poornima Joshi  is a former Caravan staff writer, and now the political editor of the Hindu Business Line.

Keywords: BJP LK Advani Narendra Modi Gujarat election RSS Hindutva Rajnath Singh Sushma Swaraj Mohan Bhagwat
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