Amarnath symbol of integration: Rajnath
By Sanjay Basak
New Delhi
Aug. 22: Reminding of the Ayodhya days, Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh made it clear that the Amarnath land row is not an election plank for the party but a "cultural symbol and issue of national integration".
Speaking exclusively to this newspaper, Mr Singh reminded that "Ayodhya too remains a cultural symbol for the country." When asked whether it was "moderate Advani versus hardliner Rajnath" in the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party chief merely said, "there is nothing like that."
However, when reminded that Mr Advani did not toe his line on Hindutva at the party’s national executive, Mr Singh said, "He need not toe any line. Since I had already spoken on it there was no need for him to repeat the same thing."
On the electoral politics of the party, Mr Singh clearly stated that he was going to contest the elections. "I want to contest the polls, but the decision will have to be taken by the central election committee," Mr Singh tried to sound humble.
Asked whether former BJP chief M. Venkaiah Naidu and Mr Arun Jaitley and other party heavyweights will contest elections, he replied, "Some people will be needed for campaigning. But then, others will have to decide for themselves." On the possibility Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi emerging as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s face in near future, Mr Singh maintained, "At this juncture, we are only thinking of Advaniji. It’s his face, we are concerned about."
Mr Singh also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party was working to expand its alliances, particularly in the southern states. While he refused to elaborate on the issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party chief felt that Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee "cannot join hands with the Congress". Though Ms Banerjee is likely to go for an electoral truck with the Congress, Mr Singh claimed that "if she had to go with the Congress, she would not have left the outfit at the first place."
On the party’s proposed election manifesto for the general elections, Mr Singh said that it would be mainly dominated by "price rise and internal security".
On the party’s failure to announce the Lok Sabha candidates by August-end, Mr Singh said that the Central Election Committee would meet during the first week of September and take a call. He argued that the list could not be finalised following the trust vote in Parliament. He, however, refused to attach any importance to the internal conflicts within the BJP in various state units. As dissident activities continue to brew in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and various other states, the BJP chief feel that there was "nothing much wrong with the discipline of the party". He added, "There is an internal democracy in BJP and wherever we found discipline lacking, we have taken action."