Click to play videoChandigarh: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's soft corner for Himachal Pradesh is well known. Till recently his summer holidays would be spent at his cottage in Prini, near Manali. While the grand old man of the saffron party may no longer be making his annual trip to the mountains, elections there has certainly caught his attention. The BJP leader has made an appeal to Himachali voters to bring the BJP back to power.
“Vajpayeeji has a special association with Himachal Pradesh. He has a house in Prini and he loves the people of this state,” BJP Vice-President Rajiv Bindal said.
But all is not hunky-dory in the BJP leadership, as the Assembly election in Gujarat has not caught Vajpayee's fancy. While the former prime minister has been conspicuous by his absence in the Gujarat campaigning process, he is going all out to woo the electorate in Himachal Pradesh.
So, is this a deliberate policy or is it because Vajpayee wants to maintain a distance from Modi? BJP replies in the negative.
“We have sent out messages and appealed to both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh to vote for BJP,” party President Rajnath Singh said.
Just a day before Gujarat went to polls, BJP announced LK Advani as their prime ministerial candidate with Vajpayee's blessings. Many saw a message in this to Modi, that his ascent and power was not unrestrained.
But what cannot be missed is the distancing of BJP at the centre from Modi. While some leaders are campaigning for Modi, Gujarat election has been by and large Modi centric.
As questions are being raised over the unity of purpose in the BJP leadership, Vajpayee's silence over the BJP in Gujarat is even more deafening. Perhaps, it is an ode to Modi’s might.
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