In happier times: Murli Manohar Joshi (left), L.K. Advani (centre) and Atal Bihari Vajpayee (right) Credit: Reuters
New
Delhi: Murli Manohar Joshi, a founder of the Bharatiya Janata Party and sitting
member of parliament from Kanpur, has been told that Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and BJP president Amit Shah do not want him to stand for election again.
Their
blunt message was conveyed to Joshi on Monday by Ram Lal, general secretary of
the party.
Joshi,
who was all set to contest from Kanpur again, had earlier been asked by Ram Lal
to save the party from embarrassment and make the announcement himself.
A
hurt Joshi told Ram Lal over the weekend that he would not make any
announcements and that he was keen to contest Kanpur as the sitting MP. Sources
say that Joshi told Ram Lal that it was a huge insult to him that Modi and Shah
used him to deliver a message they should have conveyed themselves.
Two
days on, Modi and Shah have virtually pulled the rug out from Joshi’s feet. No
indication was earlier given by the duo that he would be denied the party’s
ticket.
According
to sources familiar with the interaction, Joshi said, “What are they scared of?
Why can’t they face me?”
In
the 2014 election, Joshi had vacated his Varanasi seat for Modi and then won
Kanpur by a record margin, securing 57% of the votes.
The
BJP has been telling the media that all the senior leaders who had been
consigned to the Margdarshak Mandal after the 2014 election have voluntarily
decided not to contest for the Lok Sabha this time, including L.K. Advani and
Shanta Kumar, who also had similar visits from Ram Lal.
While
Advani had himself declined to contest, sources say he was extremely hurt by
the humiliation meted out to him. Both Joshi and Advani expected that Shah
would at least have had the courtesy of telling them himself.
Joshi,
sources say, is now mulling his next move. Unlike Advani, the former physics
professor is a strong favourite of the RSS, and Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat is
learnt to be extremely upset by the Modi-Shah move.
Joshi,
who is the chairman of the Estimates Committee of parliament, has repeatedly embarrassed the Modi government by refusing
to pull his punches. His reports on defence preparedness, the Ganga clean up and banking
NPAs have left the Modi government red faced. Joshi also brought the “Rajan list” of wilful fraudulent
defaulters to light.
The
denial of the Kanpur ticket is perhaps punishment for Joshi’s scathing reports.
A senior BJP leader said, “This is no way to treat our founders. They are
literally being thrown out. Modi and Shah have set a dangerous precedent and
they will face the same treatment later”.
Perhaps
seeing the writing on the wall, several senior BJP leaders have already
announced that they are not contesting the election, including Sushma Swaraj
and Uma Bharti.
Apparently
the RSS had warned Shah that Joshi would not keep quiet and his ticket being
cut would send a wrong message to the upper castes, particularly Brahmins, in
the electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh. But Modi and Shah were
adamant. This is not the last word from Joshi.
Watch this space.—The
Wire
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