Advani humours alliance partners

SIWAN: Political observers were expecting that BJP president L K Advani, a "hardliner", would give top priority to the Ayodhya temple issue to regain the party''s lost ground.
But, Advani''s Saturday rally at Siwan clearly indicated that instead of sticking to its old agenda of Hindutva and Ayodhya, BJP is to take up aggressively the issue of three Cs - crime, corruption and caste - in the forthcoming assembly elections.
It was Advani''s first rally in Bihar after becoming the BJP president.
In his 40-minute speech, Advani did not talk about the Hindutva issue even for a moment and concentrated on the "ground realities" of the state. Moreover, he paid glowing tributes to Loknayak Jaya Prakash Narayan (JP) in an apparent bid to keep BJP''s alliance partners in good humour. Advani projected himself as a disciple of JP by saying that he has learnt many things in his life from him (JP).
"JP read my article on electoral reforms and called me. Though he appreciated my article, he made it clear that my ideology did not convince him. Later, the Tarkunde Committee was set up to study electoral reforms at JP''s initiative," Advani said, adding, "JP was a tested ("pramanik") person."
Advani''s such views clearly reflected that BJP is trying to continue its alliance with JD (U) in the forthcoming assembly elections despite being under pressure from RSS and VHP to stick to the Hindutva agenda. He specially mentioned JP''s political relations with Jan Sangh in his speech.
JD (U) leader and former railway minister Nitish Kumar has already said publicly that his party will choose a different path if BJP returns to its Hindutva agenda. But Advani''s rally at Siwan was an indirect reply to JD (U) that BJP favours a grand alliance to unite anti-Lalu votes in the name of JP on the pattern of 1977 elections.
BJP is also worried about its failure to translate into votes the people''s response to Advani''s "Bharat Uday Yatra". "We organised this rally to ascertain the reasons for our failure to translate the people''s enthusiasm into votes. This question haunts Advaniji''s mind too," BJP state president Gopal Narayan Singh said at the Siwan rally.
Local BJP leaders were happy with Advani''s decision to hold his first rally at Siwan after becoming the party president. "Advaniji gave a message that he will lead the party in the assembly elections with the support of young and honest workers. He specially highlighted the issues of unemployment, poverty and corruption to catch the youth''s attention," said Shailendra Pratap, a BJP leader.
All the senior BJP leaders, including Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, Shatrughan Sinha, Sushil Kumar Modi and Ravi Shankar Prasad, avoided the party''s Hindutva agenda. Rajiv Pratap Rudy was the only BJP leader who talked about Ayodhya at the Siwan rally.
While attacking the "caste bias" in Bihar, Advani made an effort to arouse Bihari sentiment. "Outside Bihar, they form a group with Bihari sentiment. But in their own state, this sentiment is never found. Why?" he asked in an apparent bid to link the issue of "Bihari sentiment" with "Bihari caste bias".