It Takes Two To Tango

IS L.K. Advani 'jealous' of Atal Behari Vajpayee's popularity? Normally not a word used in political parlance, Advani's statements, made a week before Vajpayee embarked upon his historic journey to Lahore, nearly scuttled India's most famous peace initiative. Details of Vajpayee's trip had barely been made public when Advani announced his intention of visiting Karachi on a steamer from Mumbai. Then came the home minister's remarks on small parties blackmailing the ruling combine in Om Prakash Chautala's backyard in Jhinjoli, Haryana and bingo, within the next 12 hours, the Haryana leader announced his withdrawal of support to the government-four days before his deadline for rolling back prices expired.

Next up was the statement on governors which led to another uproar, mostly unwarranted. All of which has caused great embarrassment to Vajpayee and his government. Much significance is being attached to what the home minister has said, because he's not known to shoot from the lip. 'Advani is not the one to make such slips. He measures his words. These statements are designed to provoke and they are achieving the desired results. It's not coincidence that Advani has been issuing statements ever since Vajpayee started getting good press for his Pakistan visit,' says a senior party leader, who wishes to remain unnamed.

The bjp's rivals are revelling in all this. One rjd leader in Patna said that Advani's 'indecisiveness' on the Bhandari issue showed that he and the prime minister were speaking in different voices. bjp leaders, however, play down such differences saying that there 'could be a difference of perception'' but that is only to be expected in a democratic party where people have a right to express their own opinions-unlike the Congress where Sonia Gandhi is the 'paperweight which keeps all opinions quiet'.

Traditionally, Vajpayee and Advani represent the two strands in the party-the former moderate and the latter more hardline. But the prime minister's determination to plough on with his agenda, irrespective of what the hardliners say, appears to have sharpened this divide.

The Lahore bus ride is a case in point. Well-placed party sources say that hardliners within the party have not taken too kindly to the journey, the main charge being that 'all sorts of people are being carried on this trip'' and that the party was not consulted on the matter. Then again, there's the charge that Vajpayee was ignoring the party and concentrating only on the government.

To be sure, there has been a difference in emphases on key issues. While Vajpayee wants a dialogue to sort out the Ram mandir issue, Advani stresses on construction rather than the manner in which it is achieved. Again on Article 370, the prime minister's watchword is consenus while Advani's approach revolves around integrating Kashmir with the rest of India by repealing Article 370. In the days to come-and as the queue of contentious issues before the party grows longer-chances are that the divide between the two could well be accentuated.