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BJP picks Munda for Dy Speaker’s post
Faraz Ahmad
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 2
BJP parliamentary board met here today at the residence of Leader of Opposition LK Advani to recommend the name of its Khunti MP Kariya Munda for the Deputy Speaker’s post, offered earlier by the government to the Opposition.

The decision has come amidst growing criticism of the party and Advani both within the BJP and the Sangh for Advani’s continuance as leader of the party in Parliament after its defeat in the elections under his stewardship.

In the process, the party dropped earlier plans to have Sumitra Mahajan as the Deputy Speaker and instead suggested Munda to project a tribal.

This move also seems to have cleared the way for Sushma Swaraj emerging as almost certain candidate for the BJP deputy leader’s position in the Lok Sabha.

Though the party formally gave no explanation, privately sources said since both Sushma and Sumitra happen to be Brahmins, the party may have sent a wrong message if it had selected both Brahmins for the two prestigious posts.

Though the parliamentary board has sat twice since May 16, once to reject Advani’s offer of relinquishing the leader of party’s position, and then to postpone a decision on Uttarakhand Chief Minister BC Khanduri’s offer to quit, this is the first time it has taken any concrete decision.

The board seems to have swung into action after former BJP vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal is reported to have written to party president Rajnath Singh questioning Advani’s renomination without holding any discussions in the board or any other party fora.

Khandelwal’s letter coincides with the presence of RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat here in Delhi. Bhagwat had summoned BJP leaders, including Advani, Rajnath, Sushma, Arun Jaitley and Arun Shourie, to discuss the party’s defeat in the recent elections.

While the BJP leaders refused to elaborate on what discussions Bhagwat held with them, the Sangh has clearly hinted that it is not happy with Advani any longer.

Senior Sangh leader MG Vaidya has written a write-up in the Sangh’s Marathi organ Tarun Bharat saying Advani failed to enthuse Hindus in these elections.

With the buildup against Advani and the BJP leadership, the party is now hesitating before announcing the names of its other parliamentary office-bearers, including its leader in the Rajya Sabha, deputy leaders in both Houses and chief whips in the two Houses.

This is notwithstanding the fact that last Sunday when BJP parliamentary party formally elected Advani as its leader, Rajnath suggested and the parliamentary party agreed to authorise Advani to select his own team as the leader of the party in Parliament.