National

Unhappy Atal Thinks Of Quitting

His party's response to Gujarat and now the EC ruling leaves the PM a disillusioned man

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Unhappy Atal Thinks Of Quitting
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Whenever Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee starts spouting poetry, the BJP searches for deeper meaning in his verse. And so when he again recited a few lines in chaste Hindi on rakshabandhan this year about not abandoning principles and traditions as we move into the future, it was interpreted as his sending a profound subliminal message to his partymen.

Great meaning is now being attached to every prime ministerial utterance as the signals are again being put out that he is deeply unhappy over the state of affairs in his party and government. Sources close to the PM say that he is actually inclined to quit office before the situation worsens. It's just that the interests and individuals around him are persuading the veteran to carry on. But both BJP and RSS insiders do not rule out a sudden, dramatic announcement.

The prime minister is particularly upset at his party's continuous campaign against the Election Commission. Ministerial sources reveal that in the cabinet meeting of August 18, Vajpayee quietly tried to resist the Gujarat issue being sent for a Presidential reference. But Gujarat is overseen by deputy prime minister L.K. Advani, the MP from Gandhinagar. And Advani is believed to have been convinced by Arun Jaitley, the in-house legal brain of the BJP. Says a PMO source: "Both Vajpayee and Advani are not experts on the constitutional provisions of Article 174 and Article 324, so it is Jaitley who is doing all the interpreting."

And it is with Jaitley's role in the entire Gujarat fiasco that the PM is particularly unhappy. A cabinet minister reveals: "The PM has told some of us that Narendra Modi would never have tried to pull off this stunt of resigning in between assembly terms if Jaitley had not advised him to do so." Every time the Gujarat issue is put to rest, the PM feels that it is at Jaitley's insistence that it is again revived. A highly-placed source says: "The PM is wary of the entire Gujarat issue whether it is defending Modi or challenging the EC. But sending the issue for a presidential reference was the last straw as he did not want a constitutional crisis."

Sources close to Vajpayee say that after the August 18 cabinet meeting, an upset PM had made up his mind to resign. He said so to some of his close confidants in the party. But he was dissuaded from taking the dramatic step in view of the Gujarat polls. Says a cabinet minister: "It will be a slap on the face of the entire party if the PM were to resign on Gujarat. And though he is deeply unhappy about the situation in the state, he is ultimately a party man."

But more than anything else, Vajpayee is deeply conscious of his own image. And he has acquired a certain elevated status in the national consciousness because he periodically sets himself apart from his party. While the BJP may no longer be a party with a difference, Vajpayee has made an entire career of being a prime minister with a difference.

Moreover, Vajpayee would like to depart on a high note. He made an impressive speech on Independence Day and would like to put up a decent performance when he heads for the session of the UN General Assembly in New York next week. Though his health problems are under control, sources say that "he is physically and mentally fatigued by the Gujarat issue".

So if the situation vis-a-vis the government, the party and the EC deadlock looks likely to get worse, Vajpayee could pull a surprise on the nation. Perhaps that is why he made it a point this August 15 to stress that he has already unfurled the national flag from the Red Fort ramparts for five years.

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