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Home Minister L K Advani's visit to Lucknow has fuelled speculation that sections of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the city would like to see him as the heir apparent to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Political observers say it is extremely rare for Advani to visit Lucknow, the constituency that elected Vajpayee to the Lok Sabha. The last time he did that was 10 months ago for the swearing-in of Chief Minister Rajnath Singh.
During a day-long visit on Saturday, Advani attended a party meeting, addressed a press conference, interacted with editors and made it a point to satisfy at least three divergent lobbies within the ruling BJP.
Barring one, none of the BJP leaders who spoke at the three-hour meeting of party workers as much as mentioned Vajpayee. Chief Minister Rajnath Singh chose to drop altogether any reference to Vajpayee.
Advani, of course, heaped lavish praise on the prime minister.
Party insiders say the rank and file is increasingly reconciling itself to the fact that ill health could force Vajpayee to bid farewell to active politics and seems to be veering around to Advani.
"Advani's inspiration and his guidance is solely responsible for taking us ahead," was the common refrain of speakers at the meeting.
"It is amply evident that Vajpayee's ill health is becoming a major problem and party workers in UP have already decided whom to switch their loyalties to," said S V Singh, a political analyst and an academic.
Not so, countered Kalraj Misra, president of the Uttar Pradesh state unit.
"How can you draw such conclusions? Advani is not only among the senior most leaders of our party but also ranks among the BJP's most revered ones," he said.
"Besides, I do not see anything wrong if Advani is seen as Vajpayee's natural successor. After all, there is none other than him who could don the mantle," he added.
Notably, even Housing and Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon, better known as Vajpayee's 'Man Friday' in Lucknow, made only a passing reference to his political mentor.
Advani attended separate get-togethers hosted by Singh, Misra and Tandon while in Lucknow.
"This is the first time Vajpayee has been virtually ignored in any BJP meeting in Lucknow," pointed out a state minister who was thought to enjoy the confidence of the prime minister but was seen as vying for proximity with Advani this time.
The home minister's media managers scrambled to draw maximum mileage from the visit by organising a closed-door meeting with local editors apart from a press conference.
Analysts saw this as another way of conveying the message that Advani was on his way to occupying the top slot in the BJP.
Indo-Asian News Service
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