The BJP replaced L K Advani with party chief Amit Shah as its candidate for Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, formally bringing the curtains down on the career of the 91-year-old stalwart who played a crucial role in the transformation of the saffron outfit from a marginal player to a major political influence.
After initial reluctance, Advani allowed himself to be persuaded that at this age he should stay away from the rough and tumble of electoral politics. It potentially clears the way for Shah to play a big role - this time officially, in the affairs of New Delhi - if Narendra Modi gets a second term as PM in May. The move could also presage the benching of other members of the Old Guard, including another former party chief Murli Manohar Joshi.
The party has renominated PM Modi for Varanasi, while textiles minister Smriti Irani has been fielded against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for what is expected to be a high-wattage contest for Amethi.
In all, the BJP has dropped 17 of its sitting MPs, of which six are from UP, which it swept last year and which is crucial for a second term for Modi. There are only 22 women on the list, way fewer than the numbers of regional parties like BJD and TMC.
Advani hurt himself by praising Jinnah
But it is Advani’s exclusion which highlighted the list of 184 candidates. Though not unexpected, the decision marks the political boldness which has characterised the functioning of the Modi-Shah duo and which could lead to far more significant changes, both in terms of governance and intra-party equations, if Modi wins a second term.
Advani played a major role in the revival of the party after the debacle in 1984, when it won only two seats. He won six times from Gandhinagar, the first time in 1991 (Vajpayee contested and won the next one, in 1996) and the last five elections since 1998 consecutively. The original hardliner, Advani embarked on a rath yatra a year after winning first from Gandhinagar to push for the construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya: a campaign which arguably changed the course of politics. He also launched a powerful intellectual assault on ‘pseudo secularism’ and the politics of ‘appeasement,’ shorthand for BJP's charge that the reigning consensus indulged Muslim sectarianism.
He, however, hurt himself grievously praising M A Jinnah during a controversial trip to Pakistan and could not fully recover from it even though the party projected him as its PM candidate in 2009.
He started fading away after losing overwhelmingly to Narendra Modi in the contest for who should be party’s PM choice in 2014. The decision to bench him does not come as a surprise as Advani, it is learnt, was receptive to the suggestion that it was time that he made room for someone younger and be an accessory for Sangh Parivar’s plan for a generational shift.
Shah’s nomination quells speculation about Advani being allowed to pass on the seat to his daughter Pratibha or son Jayant. Shah’s entry in the LS arena from Gujarat when Modi isn’t going to be there should energise the cadre in the state that the party swept last time BJP has retained all the prominent leaders in the seats, including home minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and transport minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur. It has replaced former CM B C Khanduri from Pauri-Garhwal with Uttarakhand party state president Tirath Singh Rawat. Khanduri’s son Manish recently joined Congress and might be the opposition candidate.
There was no announcement about Kanpur, from where another party veteran and sitting MP Murli Manohar Joshi has opted out. There is a possibility that other veterans like Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (Dehradun), Kalraj Mishra (Deoria) and Karia Munda (Khunti-Jharkhand) may also be replaced as they have requested. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and former Himachal Pradesh CM Shanta Kumar may also be replaced. Sources said they have requested the leadership to consider about their replacements.
Union minister and senior party leader J P Nadda, who released the list, said candidates for all 17 seats BJP will contest in Bihar have been finalised but will be released by the state NDA leadership.
