[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With Rajya Sabha in his kitty, Prime Minister Modi is finally ready to give the veteran leader the perfect sendoff
By Sujit Bhar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has this keen sense of timing. He has just completed a sweep of Uttar Pradesh, won Uttarakhand, forcibly put up a chief minister and a government in Goa (while awaiting a court-ordered floor test on Thursday) and also snatched Manipur from the Congress. Along with his henchman and BJP president Amit Shah, he is also seemingly planning a dangerous coup in Bihar.
He had sealed the Lok Sabha some time back, and with more states won, the Rajya Sabha is also in his kitty. He has complete control of the country and his agenda.
But he had even more plans up his sleeve. On Wednesday, he announced that the BJP presidential candidate will be no less than the 89-year-old Lal Krishna Advani, a veteran Modi had consigned to the deep and lonely darkness of the Margdarshak Mandal.

NO SECOND TERM FOR HIM: President Pranab Mukherjee during the presentation of the President’s standard and colours to 119 Helicopters Unit and 28 Equipment Depot at Jamnagar in Gujarat, UNI
The interesting aspect of this choice is that nobody—not in the BJP and certainly not in the fractured opposition—can argue against it. Advani, a former deputy prime minister (under Atal Bihari Vajpayee), has been around from as far back as the current crop of leaders care to remember. He deserves to go out in regal style.
The presidential election has to be held before July 25. That is the day incumbent president Pranab Mukherjee demits office. The BJP has acted in haste, before the Congress cares to put forth a Muslim name, probably equally acceptable. One name that was floating around was Mohammad Hamid Ansari, the current vice-president. He is erudite, a gentleman and the only person to be re-elected as vice-president after Dr S Radhakrishnan.
Advani is senior enough and respected enough across the board—except within the coterie circle of Modi—to be acceptable. That was, probably, where Murli Manohar Joshi (the other name doing the rounds) lost out.
Most importantly, with the electoral college in his grasp, Modi would surely sew up the vice-presidential candidate as well. It is immaterial at this stage who the vice-president would be, because Modi wants no constitutional hurdle in his path to glory—till 2019 and beyond.
THE HURDLE
‘Iron Man’ Advani veered into politics as a volunteer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Interestingly, he was among those said to be involved in the Ram Janambhoomi andolan and it was just the other day being considered to be back in the dock by the Supreme Court. This decision of the apex court is to come on March 22, and it will be touch and go for the apex court, when one nominated as president by the ruling party is being reconsidered as an accused in the Babri Masjid demolition.
Incidentally, Advani’s acquittal by Allahabad High Court was on a technical ground and this is what the Supreme Court wants to look into again.
Advani’s deep desire to become Prime minster never materialised. His desire was so strong that it was said that a rift was created between him and Vajpayee. The advent of Modi has finally put paid to all his desires.
The presidential post will be a nice nightcap.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]