Swadeshis Cheer Jaswants Discomfiture

The defeat of former finance minister Jaswant Singh from Chittorgarh (Rajasthan) has heartened the BJPs swadeshi lobby which holds that the economic policy of the BJP government was likely to be more swadeshi than what it would be under Singh.

Singhs inclusion in the cabinet cannot be ruled out if the party formed a government under Atal Behari Vajpayee as he is held to be close to the former Prime Minister. However, the BJP might not favour Singh on moral grounds if he lost the election. Singh could then be accommodated in the Rajya Sabha later, a BJP leader said.

 

Already there was talk in the BJP circles that senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi or the BJPs Bihar unit chief Yashwant Sinha could step into Singhs shoes. While Joshi is close to Vajpayeehe was home minister in the 13-day BJP governmenthe might like to continue as home minister.

Sinha is a new entrant in the party and hence the rank and file does not have much confidence in him. However, the Rashtriya Swamsewak Sanghs senior pracharaks and their representatives in the party have accepted his bonafides. The party had recently recognised this by ensuring his election as the president of the partys Bihar unit.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch might not be happy with Sinha but the swadeshi lobby in the BJP would be perfectly satisfied if he succeeded Singh, a BJP leader said. He also held that the RSS would need to exercise a moral pressure to contain Singhs liberalising tendency. It would not be needed in case of Sinha he held.

Another strong possibility was that of party president LK Advani keeping the finance protfolio for himself in addition to being the deputy prime minister, party insiders say. This would suit Vajpayee if he wanted to keep the portfolio reserved for Singh.

The others likely to succeed Singh is party general secretary Pramod Mahajan. Mahajan is unlikely to get the defence portfolio as it would go to one of the BJPs alliance parties. His shift to the finance ministry could be one of the possibilities, a party office-bearer admitted. However, Mahajan was likely to be defeated.