Modi’s Role In BJP Victory Needs to Be Assessed, Says Advani

NEW DELHI : As the BJP on Friday celebrated its historic victory in the national election, party patriarch LK Advani raised eyebrows when he suggested an assessment of how much Narendra Modi’s leadership had contributed to the win.”I think there should be a detailed analysis on this. It needs to be assessed as to how much contribution has been made by Narendra Modi’s leadership, RSS and BJP towards the party’s victory,” Mr Advani said today, asserting that the verdict was “against corruption, inflation and dynasty.”
Mr Advani, who has shared tense ties with Mr Modi, congratulated him on the phone on the party’s spectacular performance.The 86-year-old also won in his own seat in Gandhinagar.”We are winning in areas we have never won before. I believe corruption, inflation and bad governance were the main reasons for such results to come out.”Many would see in his statement a counter to those in his own party who exulted about a massive “Modi wave” across the nation.
When the BJP declared Mr Modi as its prime ministerial candidate last September, Mr Advani strongly opposed it, reportedly saying it would hurt the party’s prospects in the November-December state polls.The veteran had skipped the meeting in which Mr Modi was named the PM candidate, and also not attended the party meet in Goa, where the Gujarat Chief Minister was declared chief campaigner. He resigned from all party positions in protest, but withdrew his resignation the next day after an intervention by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP’s ideological mentor.
Mr Modi and his core team, including BJP chief Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah have held several meetings to decide on Mr Advani’s role in the new government.