Tandav Of Purushas

Vikas purush. Loh purush. Vigyan purush...BJP is still reeling under the impact of "purush" politics and the inevitable jokes it has generated. Meanwhile, the most "dukhi purush" (sad man) in the BJP is party president Venkaiah Naidu, whose stock has clearly nosedived after he lost the PM's trust so publicly last fortnight.

But the big message for the BJP from the genteel proxy war of words that engaged the leadership last week is that its "leader number one" Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee remains a far bigger phenomenon and more acceptable than the party itself. And the immediate problem confronting the party is: will Vajpayee's relationship with Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani survive the controversy?

Already, there are signs that the Big Two will regain their equilibrium. Though Advani took five days to recover from the Atal 'brahmastra'—when the PM suggested that his deputy lead the party in the next elections—Advani did eventually try to put a lid on the issue by declaring during his US visit that "Vajpayee will continue to be PM for many more years". This remark, reportedly, was made soon after a telephone conversation between the two. If Vajpayee's magic worked on Advani, he had some more in store for the others.

He told the self-styled "vigyan purush", BJP minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, to stop fishing in troubled waters. Joshi, who has no love lost for Advani or his trusted comrade Venkaiah Naidu, had used this opportunity to plunge the knife deeper into Naidu. Joshi said that the BJP president was not authorised at any party forum to declare that both Atal-Advani would be projected in the next elections as the twin champions of the party's cause. In response, a BJP general secretary retorted: "Dr Joshi had no problem when last time the party used the slogan—BJP ke teen darohar/ Atal, Advani aur Murli Manohar!" Clearly, the long knives were out in the party.

That's when the PM reportedly summoned Dr Joshi to Race Course Road. Joshi spent over an hour with Vajpayee's adopted family, then got half-an-hour with Vajpayee. The PM sent out a clear signal to stop the squabbling. "The PM does not like anyone to speak on his behalf," says a source, "and he knew that Joshi was only pursuing his own agenda while pretending to defend Vajpayee." Another senior BJP leader remarked: "Atalji has again shown that he is the bigger pandit." Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi declared with a grin: "The Joshi chapter is finally closed."

The good doctor may have relished the prospect of a PM-Dy PM spat, but the entire Sangh and BJP leadership knows that a harmonious Atal-Advani partnership is vital to the party's prospects in the forthcoming assembly elections. No one doubts that the two will continue to pull along as before, though a little strain has crept in their relationship. The Atal-Advani partnership can be likened to a marriage where murder may be contemplated but never committed.

Now when it's clear that he is and will remain numero uno, Vajpayee is reportedly in a magnanimous mood. His target, says a source, "was mainly Venkaiah and not really Advani". In any case, Advani has run into a rough patch. As a BJP MP says, "First the shafts of sarcasm by Vajpayee, then the kar sevaks' charge that he ordered them to demolish the Babri mosque, and now the questions over his officers taking their wives with them to the US." The last has somewhat clouded the trip which was meant to showcase Advani as a PM-in-waiting.

Trapped in his own image, and to some extent a victim of his own intellectual clarity, Advani, loyalists say, can get away with nothing. The ambiguous and enigmatic Vajpayee, on the other hand, remains the high priest who can get away with anything.This is remarkable as unlike Advani the PM leads no faction in the party. Which is why, say sources, he often has to publicly force an issue by calling the bluff of his own party. As he did last week with his "tired and retired" missive.

But in the cadre-based party there are limits to even the PM's power. This week the entire BJP leadership will retreat into what is described as a 'chintan baithak' (introspection session) on the outskirts of Mumbai. One of the big issues that will be discussed is whether the party should have its own manifesto or should follow the NDA's agenda in the next general elections. Vajpayee is reportedly not too enthusiastic about the BJP asserting its separate identity. Yet many partymen are keen on a separate manifesto. The decision will finally be arrived at by consensus, and the rss view will also be significant.

The fate of Venkaiah Naidu will not be discussed. He will continue as president till the assembly elections are over, say sources. But he will no longer enjoy the PM's confidence. A BJP leader points out that Venkaiah was the first president to be invited to discuss cabinet reshuffles with the Big Two. "He even managed to get an entry into the crucial rss meetings with Atal-Advani," says a source. That, perhaps, will no longer be possible.

Meanwhile, Vajpayee is sending signals that he is keen to fight the next general elections on what is being described as a "positive platform". Solve problems, instead of creating them, is the message the PM wants to send to his party, say sources. He wants to search for solutions to problems like Pakistan, Kashmir and Ayodhya before his term comes to an end."Vajpayee believes there is still time to make breakthroughs," says an aide.

Vajpayee remains the BJP's 'shikhar purush' (summit man). On that there is no longer any debate in the party.