08-25-2009, 10:27 PM
What was Kulkarni doing in party for 13 years, asks BJP
25 Aug 2009, 0810 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: BJP, which acknowledged the fickleness of its fair weather fans, on Monday hit out at former Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni for his
attack on the party.
âIt took 13 years for Mr Kulkarni to realise that he is not comfortable with the BJPâs ideology. That he is out of sync with BJPâs beliefs never donned on him when the party was in power. Mr Kulkarni, who made a lateral entry into BJP was given positions of power and authority,â BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad said.
Mr Kulkarni, who worked as a close aide of Mr Advani for over a decade, had blamed Sangh parivarâs âinterferenceâ in the BJPâs functioning for the debacle in the last Lok Sabha polls. He had also criticised the way former Union minister Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party.
An ex-Trotskyite, Mr Kulkarni was the co-author of Mr Advaniâs audacious Jinnah reappraisal project. Mr Advaniâs advisors had calculated that accrediting Jinnah, the force behind two-nation theory, as a âsecularistâ would create an ambience that can accommodate the BJP leaderâs prime ministerial ambitions. Mr Advani, who was swept off his feet by melodrama involved in his interactions with Pakistanis and film songs such as âghar aya mera pardesiâ during banquets at his honour, went along with Mr Kulkarniâs script.
Incidentally, it was Mr Jaswant Singh, who was fielded by BJP in 2005 to reject Mr Kulkarniâs Jinnah line that found acceptance in the Advani household. âThese are the individual and personal views expressed by a member at a gathering which had nothing to do with BJP,ââ Mr Jaswant Singh had told reporters at a press conference in Delhi on June 21, 2005.
Since the days of the NDA government, Mr Kulkarni had pushed the theory that BJP could not hope to increase its tally in the Lok Sabha without co-opting Muslims. On the eve of the general election in 2004, he had floated the proposal to organise ``Vajpayee Himayat Yatraââ â a project to enlist the support of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. The yatra bus had Pervez Musharrafâs photograph pasted on it as Mr Kulkarni calculated that Mr Musharraf had a large following among Indian Muslims. The yatra flopped miserably, and BJP ended up with just 10 seats in the politically-crucial state.
Mr Kulkarni was involved in Mr Advaniâs image building efforts during the last Lok Sabha polls. It was Mr Kulkarni and his friends that advised Mr Advani to conduct a personality-oriented campaign in the election. The results have proved that the BJPâs slogan âMazboot neta, nirnayak sarkarâ just did not connect with the people.
25 Aug 2009, 0810 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: BJP, which acknowledged the fickleness of its fair weather fans, on Monday hit out at former Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni for his
attack on the party.
âIt took 13 years for Mr Kulkarni to realise that he is not comfortable with the BJPâs ideology. That he is out of sync with BJPâs beliefs never donned on him when the party was in power. Mr Kulkarni, who made a lateral entry into BJP was given positions of power and authority,â BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad said.
Mr Kulkarni, who worked as a close aide of Mr Advani for over a decade, had blamed Sangh parivarâs âinterferenceâ in the BJPâs functioning for the debacle in the last Lok Sabha polls. He had also criticised the way former Union minister Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party.
An ex-Trotskyite, Mr Kulkarni was the co-author of Mr Advaniâs audacious Jinnah reappraisal project. Mr Advaniâs advisors had calculated that accrediting Jinnah, the force behind two-nation theory, as a âsecularistâ would create an ambience that can accommodate the BJP leaderâs prime ministerial ambitions. Mr Advani, who was swept off his feet by melodrama involved in his interactions with Pakistanis and film songs such as âghar aya mera pardesiâ during banquets at his honour, went along with Mr Kulkarniâs script.
Incidentally, it was Mr Jaswant Singh, who was fielded by BJP in 2005 to reject Mr Kulkarniâs Jinnah line that found acceptance in the Advani household. âThese are the individual and personal views expressed by a member at a gathering which had nothing to do with BJP,ââ Mr Jaswant Singh had told reporters at a press conference in Delhi on June 21, 2005.
Since the days of the NDA government, Mr Kulkarni had pushed the theory that BJP could not hope to increase its tally in the Lok Sabha without co-opting Muslims. On the eve of the general election in 2004, he had floated the proposal to organise ``Vajpayee Himayat Yatraââ â a project to enlist the support of the Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. The yatra bus had Pervez Musharrafâs photograph pasted on it as Mr Kulkarni calculated that Mr Musharraf had a large following among Indian Muslims. The yatra flopped miserably, and BJP ended up with just 10 seats in the politically-crucial state.
Mr Kulkarni was involved in Mr Advaniâs image building efforts during the last Lok Sabha polls. It was Mr Kulkarni and his friends that advised Mr Advani to conduct a personality-oriented campaign in the election. The results have proved that the BJPâs slogan âMazboot neta, nirnayak sarkarâ just did not connect with the people.