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Cabinet backs Vajpayee, `no PM-Advani rift`
New Delhi, June 05: Seeking to put a lid on the leadership controversy, the Union Cabinet today threw its weight fully behind Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as BJP asserted there is no rift between him and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.
New Delhi, June 05: Seeking to put a lid on the leadership controversy, the Union Cabinet today threw its weight fully behind Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as BJP asserted there is no rift between him and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.
With Vajpayee causing a flutter last night remarking that Advani would lead the party to victory capping a week-long controversy triggered by his remark on retirement, the Cabinet met this morning and the Human Resource Develpment Minister Murli Manohar Joshi is believed to have initiated the move for getting a Cabinet endorsement.
The Sangh Parivar fountainhead RSS also chipped in with a strong endorsement of Vajpayee as BJP leaders elsewhere in the country rallied behind him but maintained that Advani was an adequate foil for him.
Congratulating the Prime Minister for his "successful" three-nation trip, from which he returned on Tuesday night, Joshi expressed the hope that Vajpayee would continue to lead the country successfully in future also.
As his colleagues in the Cabinet concurred, the Prime Minister simply responded with a "thank you".
BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu, who is in the thick of the controversy surrounding the leadership issue, met Vajpayee in the evening. The Prime Minister had in the morning called him over phone and asked him not to worry over media reports on the controversy.
"Many people have tried to project that there are differences in BJP but there is no rift or are differences between Vajpayee and Advani. Vajpayee is our leader," Naidu said at a public function.
Though most of BJP's allies kept silent on the issue, Trinamool Congress cautioned against any change in the NDA leadership under Vajpayee while the opposition Congress said the plethora of statements indicated there was an intense power struggle going on in BJP.
Bureau Report
The Sangh Parivar fountainhead RSS also chipped in with a strong endorsement of Vajpayee as BJP leaders elsewhere in the country rallied behind him but maintained that Advani was an adequate foil for him.
Congratulating the Prime Minister for his "successful" three-nation trip, from which he returned on Tuesday night, Joshi expressed the hope that Vajpayee would continue to lead the country successfully in future also.
As his colleagues in the Cabinet concurred, the Prime Minister simply responded with a "thank you".
BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu, who is in the thick of the controversy surrounding the leadership issue, met Vajpayee in the evening. The Prime Minister had in the morning called him over phone and asked him not to worry over media reports on the controversy.
"Many people have tried to project that there are differences in BJP but there is no rift or are differences between Vajpayee and Advani. Vajpayee is our leader," Naidu said at a public function.
Though most of BJP's allies kept silent on the issue, Trinamool Congress cautioned against any change in the NDA leadership under Vajpayee while the opposition Congress said the plethora of statements indicated there was an intense power struggle going on in BJP.
Bureau Report