Hell hath no fury like an old man scorned. With Narendra Damodardas Modi‘s nomination as the chairman of the BJP election campaign committee in Goa on Sunday, 86-year-old Lalchand Kishinchand Advani‘s fate as a “two-time former future prime minister of India” was finally and firmly sealed.
But it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
So, a dramatic resignation from the all posts held by him (except the crucial one of NDA chairperson), followed by the leak of the resignation letter, followed by the leak that he did not speak to Modi for six minutes after the nomination but merely 90 seconds. If age equals experience equals wisdom, Advani was showing little of it.
Indeed, the contents of the resignation letter showed a petty and bitter man, unable to come to terms with the reality that the party he had so artfully built on the trail of blood left behind by his rath yatras no longer found him useful. So petty and so bitter that he even seemed willing to destroy its immediate prospects.
So far, the BJP has refused to play ball. It wants him to stay on in his posts but has shown no indication that it will revoke its decision to elevate Modi. More resignations of Advani’s camp-followers may follow, but by all available indications, it appears as if the BJP and RSS (not necessarily in that order) have taken a calculated risk.
Questions: Is BJP better off without Advani? Will Advani’s absence impact the NDA and its prospects in the coming general elections? Is BJP’s (and India’s) future safe with Modi or has Advani shown the opposite?
Also read: Is Advani more acceptable than Modi?
churumuri 
Advani’s behaviour is churlish and immature, not befitting a man of his age and stature in the BJP. After all Modi has just built on the legacy and it seems rather surprising that the old man in a fury is hesitant to pass over the bloody mantle that he has woven so carefully over the past two decades! Wonder whether what has happened to Advani could be termed as “karmic” retribution in which case, when would it come around to Modi?!
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Its very interesting that the Advani camp – Messrs Advani, Ananth Kumar, Sushma, Naidu, Jaswant, Yashwant, Chandan Mitra, Balbir Punj, etc – none of them have a political base. Advani and Sushma need Modi and Shivraj respectively to win. And none of them can win an election on their own. Forget Advani leaving, even if all of these leave, it won’t affect BJP as none of them are relevant.
Advani’s tanturm made him a laughing stock and further strengthened Modi. Sushma had a golden chance to be PM if Modi failed and if BJP needed the likes of Nitish and Mamta. But now Advani’s antics have strengthened Rajnath. If Modi fails, then Rajnath will be the one who can do the ally hunt.
Net result – Advani appears a desperate old man and Sushma’s PM dreams are permanently shattered.
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Well right now advani is back after some ego massaging.
Either ways, Modi is yesterdays advani and there is no stopping him
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Advani should read the writing on the wall and forget his ambition of becoming PM..it ain’t going to happen. Come to think of it, this guy quotes RSS meddling in BJP affairs as the reason for resignation..and one phone call from RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat he withdraws his resignation without condition. This shows how piquant LKA has become…from now he shall be know as LOL Krishna Advani
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Hope Lohpurush doesn’t create more nautanki between now and elections…
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Advani ‘s biggest contribution to India would be to prevent NA MO from becoming PM of India.
CORPORATE INDIA ‘S cruel face has been exposed by elevation of modi as campaign committee chairman.
It is corporate lobby which is eager to see NA MO as PM, no other Indian wants it.
NA MO. Should realise at least now that he should not act as a puppet in the hands of corporates.
A PM candidate should have the moral courage to say SHUT YOUR *** AND GET OUT to corporates if they try to influence policy decisions, sadly NA MO lacks it.
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These power struggles are normal in a group ; Why dont people wait for the majority view that will emerge instead of speculating!! may be betting!!! and fixing !!!!!
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Loh Purush?
IRONMAN RUSTED, IRONMAN MUST BE RESTED.
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Dr Ramesappa!
As usual you are brilliant! :)
I bet you prefer the ‘family’ firm of Haradanahalli D Devgowda to a ‘Corporate’ BJP or UPA right?
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Doddi,
Recently I read an article, it was the tenure of GREAT FARMER LEADER OF INDIA as P M, there was a presentation about economy from a famous real estate corporate along with officials, P M was taking a power nap thru the presentation, and after it was done, he told the tycoon he knew about the economy much better than he did and corporates should concentrate on fair business and not lobbying.
That’s the sort of P M a common Indian aspires for.
Do u know, that ELECTRONIC CITY AND SURROUNDING AREAS has been given as a jahgir to CORPORATE TSARS, they will rule around 930 acres of land, constitution of India will not apply to that area. state govts have surrendered to the TSARS.
SHOCKING, DISGUSTING
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Dr. Ramesh:
That was a hilarious joke – PM asleep in a meeting is the ‘sort of PM a common Indian aspires for’!!
We already have a PM who is asleep at the wheels with eyes wide open. Why change him?!!
—
Seriously, to measure performance of governments worldwide, you can use a simple measure – “economy”. And typically economies do well when there is reasonable growth on low inflation.
When Deve Gowda came to power in 1996, India had a growth figures of 6.7%, 7.6% & 7.5% for the preceding 3 years. That year P. Chidambaram as FM presented what was then called as ‘Dream Budget’. The Year that followed, India’s growth had fallen to 4% (Source:World bank).
And the year that followed after Deve Gowda’s Prime Ministership and ‘United front’ Govt. India experienced a peak of 20% inflation, which is the worst India has had in 30 years!! (Source: inflation.eu)
Considering it takes a year+ for policy measure effects to tell, India had worst inflation, and worst growth in the following year after Deve Gowda (Thrid Front govt.) Prime Ministership!! This was only reversed by NDA, which had moderate growth numbers, on extremely low inflation (lowest 5 year inflation in 30 years)
SO, WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE???
Third Front is a perfect recipe for us to fall below 5% growth, and 20% inflation. i.e. Stagflation.
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@harkol,
I think you shouldn’t take Dr. Ramesh or Simple too seriously. ( Though I am missing Simple for his hilarious 100-crore movies ==> great economy logic :-) ).
Every kid in Bangalore knows that the sons of DG have huge real estate investments in Whitefield, ORR, Belandur etc and many IT parks (including the huge Manyata Tech park) belong to Revanna in benaami names.
Dr. Ramesh just prefers to keep his eyes closed.
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Poor drramesh’s dreams of ‘Gowda raj’ came crashing down after the elections. But good to know that his loyalty towards the first family of Karnataka is still intact. Maybe he will still make it as Gen Secy (IT) of JDS :)
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I still see a silver lining to the dark clouds looming large over India, BJP led coalition with modi at the helm will be a disaster for sure, talks of a federal front with regional parties is great news, it takes me those glory days of 1996, when crores of youngsters like me felt that India has understood the real meaning of democracy.
Concept of national parties is becoming more and more useless and will be rendered vestigeal.
Special status to all states, much needed rest to all economists by sending them to a long hibernation in some remote part of India are some of the points that should be included in the common minimum agenda.
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Deepak–
In my fantasy, HDD is President, HDK is PM, Rev is CM, and Dr. Ramesappa is Minister of Health in New Delhi.
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Tigers Whiskers the Ultimate may your nightmarish dreams come true!
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