RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has apparently been engaged in ?dinner diplomacy? to build a consensus in the BJP over the timing of naming Narendra Modi as the party?s 2014 prime ministerial candidate even as the Gujarat chief minister is thought to be getting frustrated over the delay.
Bhagwat is learnt to have discussed the issue with party patriarch L K Advani and the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj over dinner earlier this week.
While party leaders remained tightlipped about the meeting, sources said the RSS chief?s ?dinner diplomacy? was a bid to develop a consensus on the issue that has divided the BJP?s top leadership.
While Modi?s projection is a fait accompli, the party remains divided on whether the declaration should be made before or after the Assembly elections due later this year.
Besides Bhagwat, RSS number two Bhaiyyaji Joshi also met Advani and Swaraj on Sunday to discuss the same issue. BJP president Rajnath Singh was also present at the meeting involving Joshi but he met Bhagwat separately over a week back to discuss the issue.
The hectic parleys come in the wake of mounting pressure from Modi supporters within the party to announce his candidature soon after the monsoon session of Parliament ends Saturday.
Modi had said on Thursday that he did not dream of any position and wanted to fulfill his mandate in Gujarat until 2017. This was construed in party circles as an expression of his frustration with the party?s dithering over formally naming him as the PM candidate.
Moves by the RSS to forge a consensus in the party assume significance as it can play a decisive role on the issue given the numbers of different camps in the BJP?s apex parliamentary board.
At the top, with Advani and Swaraj holding out against an early announcement, there is a ?tie? between the top four decision-makers in the party.
?Without any disrespect to any parliamentary board member, the BJP president, L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley remain the real decision-makers. As things stand today, there is a tie,? said a BJP source.
Even in the 12-member parliamentary board, there are 11 voting members – excluding Atal Behari Vajpayee – and the situation again appears evenly balanced if the ambiguous positions of former BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Thawarchand Gehlot are considered.
?Technically speaking, the decision will be taken by the party parliamentary board. And the position, as on today, is still not clear,? said another top party functionary who is familiar with the current state of play on the issue.
Sources said that while four members – L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar – are against the announcement before the Assembly elections, another four – Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu, Ramlal and Narendra Modi himself – favour an early announcement.
This is seen as resulting in a tie again as Rajnath Singh is not going to cast the first vote. Assuming a decision about Modi will have to be taken in Modi?s absence, Rajnath?s support will only leave the situation evenly balanced.
?Consequently, the RSS will have to give an unambiguous signal one way or the other. The ball is in the court of RSS,? a party source said. ?Once the RSS gives a clear signal one way or the other, the other minor players, without disrespect to their parliamentary board membership, will fall in line.?
In this backdrop, sources on both sides said the RSS was still consulting and gathering the views of the four key decision-makers – Rajnath, Advani, Swaraj and Jaitley – and Gadkari to some extent.
However, BJP sources familiar with sentiments within the RSS claimed that ?there was immense pressure from RSS cadres to make an early announcement? and hoped the RSS would act accordingly.
But one influential RSS leader sought to suggest that the decision had to be taken by the BJP as it is the party that has to face elections. ?That the Sangh is for an early announcement is a perception in the media. It is for the party to make a realistic electoral assessment,? the RSS leader said.
Bhagwat?s meeting with Advani and Swaraj, therefore, is seen as an attempt to get these two influential leaders on board for a consensus decision.
?The very fact that the RSS is holding meetings with BJP leaders is reflective of its keenness for the announcement,? another source said, seeking to read the mind of the RSS on the issue.
