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Bad vibes between Advani and Bhandari go back a long way

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu today asserted that Bihar Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari had not resigned "as of now" and expressed the hope that the meeting between the latter and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would "amicably resolve the controversy".

Briefing reporters at the party's Ashoka Road headquarters, Naidu declined to comment on why Bhandari had left Patna in a huff and boarded the Rajdhani Express for Delhi after refusing to avail of the state government aircraft for his journey. He, however, pointed out that there was no controversy, and that the Bihar governor had come to Delhi for consultations with the prime minister. Naidu refused to elaborate further.

The expected meeting between the two, however, did not come about till late afternoon, and party circles said the meeting was likely to take place at 2100 hours IST.

Asked to comment on the reported resignation of three BJP MPs over the move to shift Bhandari from Patna, Naidu said, "Neither the party nor anyone else has received any resignation by our MPs."

Asked to explain why Bhandari had left Patna, Naidu merely said the government was seized of the matter and things would be all right after the Vajpayee-Bhandari meeting.

The BJP headquarters was agog with talk that the long-standing rivalry between Union Home Minister L K Advani and the Bihar governor was responsible for the controversy. While no BJP MP was willing to comment on the matter, party officials indicated that things took a turn for the worse after Advani announced that Bhandari would be moved out of Bihar to be replaced by an 'apolitical incumbent'.

The party officials said earlier, Bhandari had tried to become the party president after Advani had completed his term, but it was Dr Murli Manohar Joshi who finally made it. Thereafter, Bhandari became perceptibly annoyed with Advani, they pointed out.

Citing the second reason for the Advani-Bhandari animosity, the party officials said Bhandari bayed for Advani's blood when the hawala charges were made against the latter. After this, the latent hostility between the two was formalised.

Meanwhile, Bhandari, ensconced in the Kalkaji Road residence of former Delhi minister Poornima Sethi, told a group of reporters, "I have not yet decided what to do but I am still the Bihar governor." He, however, underlined that he had been "humiliated and hurt" following the announcement by the home minister.

Significantly, former Delhi chief minister and senior party leader Sushma Swaraj came to see Bhandari today in an apparent bid to break the deadlock between him and Advani. Others who tried to break the impasse were RSS secretary Professor H V Seshadri and sBJP vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy.

RELATED REPORTS:
Bhandari wants Advani to apologise
Bhandari's possible replacement worries Bihar BJP workers
Rajasthan BJP upset by treatment meted out to Bhandari

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