Yes. No. Maybe.

Mr Advani seems to have pulled it off. At least for now. While he seemed firmabout not withdrawing his resignation till late Tuesday night, his briefappearance in the morning on Wednesday for TV cameras appeared to have left thedoor ajar. "The resignation still stands," he said, "because thesituation which made me tender it have not changed as yet" (vopraisthitiyaaN abhii badlii nahii haiN).

Jaswant Singh was absent, being away in Tel Aviv, but the other biggies -- former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, senior party leaders M Venkaiah Naidu, M M Joshi, Arun Jaitely, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Sushma Swaraj, Bal Apte, Sanjay Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh and party chiefministers Narendra Modi, Babu Lal Gaur and Raman Singh -- had all assembled forthe meeting of the BJP central office bearers and its parliamentary board at 5P.M. on Wednesday.

As promised by Venkaiah Naidu, "The meeting unequivocally rejected the resignation of ShriL.K. Advaniji" and passed a resolution that went on to say the following:

The meeting appealed to Shri Advani to continue to lead the party, which he has so ably led in the past. Shri Advani represents the best values in public life. He has scholarly articulated the debate on nationalism in the past few decades with rationality, logic and with powerful idioms. His contribution to our ideology is unparalleled.

The party has benefited enormously from his leadership and needs his leadership in the future also.

The party strongly condemns the use of highly objectionable language by some leaders of the VHP about Shri Advani. These statements have lowered the level of public discourse. Such outbursts, indecent protests and abusive language adversely affects the strength of the nationalist movement in the country. These statements also go against the very ethos of Hinduism.

Soon after the meeting, all those present, barring Mr Vajpayee and Mr Joshi,trooped over to Mr Advani's residence to plead with once again to reconsider hisdecision.

It is not clear what exactly transpired, but Mr Advani is said to have askedfor time till Thursday when the BJP biggies meet again to determine the futurecourse of action. This keeps open the possibility that with the party rallyingbehind him, he may actually decide to stay on.

Earlier, there had been some buzz that Mr Advani was "deeplyunhappy" about the silence in the resolution about his remarks on Jinnah.Venkaiah Naidu claims, as he would, that such is not the case and that Mr Advani has asked fortime to think over the matter before giving his decision tomorrow. "The onlyagenda of today's meeting was to persuade Advaniji to withdraw his resignation. No other issue was discussed in themeeting."

Nor, Mr Naidu avers, is there any pressure from the RSS. "They have not proposed anybody's name for the post and it's not in their character as well." But it is significant that while all those present at the meeting rushed to Mr Advani's house, Murali Manohar Joshi was not one of them. A.B. Vajpayee has already emphatically spoken in favour of Advani, but M.M. Joshi's silence so far tell its own tale.

The pressure from the allies, particularly the JD(U) in view of theapproaching Bihar elections was at work too. George Fernandes, foreverready to take the battle to the Congress, also pitched in with his expectedsupport once again:

What happened is unfortunateas some people have not liked it (Advani's comments) but what he said ishistorically true and there is nothing wrong in it.However, these developments will not have any impact on the NDA and Advani will continue to be theLeader of the Opposition. The recent happening is distressing only because it has happened to a leader who was involved in national politics for long and responsible in improving relationship between India andPakistan. The Congress criticism of Advani is uncalled for because Nehru was responsible in drawing Jinnah to communalpolitics.

Nitish Kumar had in any case been the first to welcome Mr Advani's remarks on"Jinnah's secularism", and K.C Tyagi, general secretary, JD-U decidedto be slightly less subtle when it came to letting the Sangh know how crucialthe state of Bihar could become:

The views expressed by the allied institutions of the BJP and its leaders are against the basics on which the NDA was formed. They reflect only their narrowmindedness. The Janata Dal (United) is closely watching the developments in BJP.

Ram Vilas Paswan was not to be left behind and surprisingly, decidedto play statesman by suggesting:

"Advani must be firm on his stand and work for secularism ignoring the RSS and VHP which have unnecessarily raised a hue and cry over his statement. The LJP extends full support to Advani on his remarks on Jinnah as it is based on historical facts".

The importance of Mr Advani to the party and the parivar was apparent fromthe fact that the RSS Sarsanghchalak Sudarshan was there in thepress to reiterate that the resignation was an internal matter of the party,apart from offering some platitudes about Advani's "able presidentship".

But if you think everyone has suddenly discovered love for Mr Advani, here'sa reminder from the VHP:

Pravin Togadia, international secretary, VHP stated:

I have been asked to soften my stand on Advani? Who has said this?....I have not had any communication with the RSS in this connection. No one has told me to soften mystand.We have not instructed our functionaries to celebrate...It is their free will. People of the state may be part of ittoo. (When asked if he had asked VHP activists in Gujarat to refrain from celebrating Advani'sresignation).

Acharya Giriraj Kishore, general secretary, VHP, of courseindulged in what he knows best. Plain denial. Mr Togadia had never called MrAdvani a traitor, he said with a straight face. He only called those people atraitor who praised Jinnah. After that he was abruptly statesman like:

We welcome Advani's decision to resign respecting the sentiments of the voters of his constituency and Hindu sentiments. He should stick to hisdecision.
On who should replace Advani: Who should be the next BJP president is for the party to decide but he should be Hindutvavadi. The Hindus should not be humiliated.
On whether Advani should step down as Leader of Opposition: It is not my job to comment on it. It is for the BJP to decide and depends whether his morality would allowhim.

All this of course after there were reports that the Sanghsarchalak had had along meeting with the VHP chief Ashok Singhal today, and the reports late lastnight that Mr Togadia had been told to mind his language by the RSS.

Apart from the parivar "loony fringe confined to Gujarat", therewas also the ever reliable Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamna to rub itin again:

Jinnah was responsible for the bloody partition of India which resulted inMahatma Gandhi's killing. Now, it has claimed Advani, and it is clear thatJinnah's ghost is very much alive. Sindh province in Pakistan is the birth placeof refugees like Advani. The fact that the 'evil storm' called Jinnah forcedtheir migration to India is history and no one can change that. Neither the BJP,Sangh Parivar nor the country can afford the ideological confusion created byAdvani's praise of Jinnah. Such confusion damages both the party and thecountry.When Advani showered praise on Jinnah in Pakistan and returned toIndia, it was clear that people in his parent organisation, the Sangh parivar,will not allow him to live in peace and that is what happened.

This was only on expected lines, and also on expected lines was theunconditional support extended by Mr Advani's counterpart in Rajya Sabha, JaswantSingh, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, BJP, currently in TelAviv:

What he said is a historical fact. The creation of Pakistan and the addressto the Constituent Assembly by the late Qaid-e-Azam cited by Advaniji areestablished facts of history. Advaniji continues to command the confidence ofthe party throughout the country and the respect of the people of India for hisdedicated fifty years of service to the nation. I have conveyed the exactly thesame to some of the other office bearers of the party over the phone, includingVenkaiah Naidu.

As for the Congress, it was ironical that on a day when Mr Advani actuallydropped by to brief the PM about his Pakistan visit, the Congress persisted innot rising above its party-politics. Consider the samples on offer during thecourse of the day:

Jayanthi Natarajan, spokesperson, Congress:

Advani's visit to Pakistan has less to do with Indo-Pak peace process and more to do withthe BJP, which not only has crisis of identity, ideology and leadership but also lack ofdirection. The peace process has survived despite all the mistakes made by the NDA government.

Digvijay Singh, general secretary, Congress:

It will not be surprising if Advani, pressured by RSS, withdraws his resignation. The controversy (over Advani's statement about Jinnah) is an opportunity for the secular forces to understand RSS and BJP. This is a good indicator for them to strengthen themselves. Advani, like RSS and BJP, has been infamous for being double tongued, which is why he who had been criticising M A Jinnah all his life, changed his views while visiting Pakistan. It seems that due to inability of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to participate in active politics, Advani is attempting to find a liberal image.

Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of State for Home, Congress:

Since people have not accepted him as a Gandhian just for his saying that demolition ofthe Babri Masjid is a black day in history, how can people give him the certificate of secularism on glorifying Jinnah?

It would actually be nice to hear from Dr Singh himself what he thinks of therole played by Mr Advani, as the commentators across the board seem to agreethat he could not have asked for a better leader of opposition to take the peaceprocess forward.

But the feeling of course is not just confined to the Congress. Its UPAallies, barring Ram Vilas Paswan as noted above, seem to share the perception:

Sharad Pawar, chief, NCP:

Advani was in a hurry to display his secular face. What Advani said shows to which level BJP can stoop down for power. What was the need for displaying loyalty to a person who insulted Mahatma Gandhi and was responsible for India's partition?

Ajit Singh, president, Rashtriya Lok Dal: Advani:

After the reverses suffered by the BJP in the last general election, has been trying to dilute his hardliner image for which he even praised Jinnah in Pakistan recently. .. but he can never wash his hands off from the Babri demolition and the subsequentriots. Caste, creed, religion, terror, use of muscle and money power have become the mainstay of Indian politicstoday.

The same perception seems to be shared by a Hindustan Times-C Fore survey thatpolled 318 people in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore andHyderabad through random sampling to find the following:

• 56 per cent said Advani had "betrayed" his followers by praising Jinnah.
• 76 per cent said Jinnah was not secular
• 72 per cent said he was the main cause of the partition
• 53 per cent said he was right in resigning as BJP President.
• 43 per cent said he should step down as Leader of the Opposition as well
• 45 per cent felt he should not do so.
• 21 per cent said Advani is a hard liner
• 22 per cent said Advani is a moderate
• 57 per cent said Advani is just a politician.

But Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, of the Hurriyat, currently in Pakistan, hasendorsed Mr Advani's new image

The remarks by Advani during his recent visit to Pakistan was a clear indication of acceptance of Pakistan as a reality and reflected the change in the BJP's thinking. The statements made by Advani which generated strong reactions showed that its leadership too is accepting change. He also spoke of involvement of the Kashmiris in efforts by India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue. Earlier this was only the demand of Pakistan which has apparently found the backing of some Indian leaders.

The parivar may not have much to agree with the Mirwaiz, but despite itsbluster, it doesseem to realise that insisting on the removal of Mr Advani at this time would only be detrimentalto the BJP, particularly as the second-rung has neither acceptability nor impactamong the voters or the allies. There is already talk that the Sarsanghchalak,not a spring chicken himself, who was earlier not in favour of the the old menleading the party, has been told to name his successor. Things might changeslowly, but change sure seems to be in the offing. Whether it would be for thebetter or worse, only time will tell.

Meanwhile, the ball has been lobbed back in Advani's court and it would behighly unlikely for him not to play.