A crucial meeting between BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat happened on Saturday afternoon amidst reports of a succession plan being mapped out by the Sangh Parivar.
Bhagwat has met several leaders from Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar to Murli Manohar Joshi.
However, the RSS and the BJP have both denied that there's going to be any change in the party leadership.
Meanwhile, in his first comments on the turmoil in BJP, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that it's not good for the country.
"It (infighting in BJP) is not good. In a democracy, stability in political parties is necessary. If there is instability, it will have an impact on the country," said the Prime Minister.
Earlier, NDTV had learnt that Advani and Bhagwat were likely to discuss the party's future. Sources said Advani's future role in the party was also slated to be discussed.
However, the BJP sources said that leadership change was not discussed in the meeting, adding that the two leaders did not discuss anyone's resignation.
The RSS sources too said that no succession plan for BJP was discussed in the meeting. They also said that these meetings are normal routine meetings.
It was being said that the crucial meeting would likely take up the issue of the role that BJP's gen-next will have in the days ahead. But according to sources, the changes are unlikely to take place soon and may evolve over some months.
What is now expected is that Advani will make way for a new leadership to take over. While all plans for succession are expected to become clearer after the Advani-Bhagwat meeting, everything will unfold only slowly.
As the BJP grapples with a worsening internal crisis, NDTV has learnt that the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has spelled out the BJP's roadmap at his meetings over the past few days with BJP leaders.
Sources have told NDTV that the RSS wants Advani to bring in the generation next leaders quickly.
Sources say the Sangh wants Advani's exit, when it happens, to be graceful and respectable.
Even the RSS refused to be drawn into the controversy. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on the record that the RSS would only advise the BJP, if asked.
The frontrunners in BJP:
- Sushma Swaraj, Advani's deputy in the Lok Sabha could be the frontrunner to don the mantle of the Leader of the Opposition.
- While party general secretary Arun Jaitley has emerged as the frontrunner for the BJP president's post.
- The present incumbent Rajnath Singh's term comes to end in January next.
BJP defends Advani
LK Advani's former colleagues, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, George Fernandes and Brajesh Mishra had categorically stated that Advani was indeed aware of plans to send Jaswant Singh to Kandahar where the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 had been hijacked. But now the party has come out strongly to his defence.
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