BJP’s first list of 184 Lok Sabha candidates is out. This time Amit Shah is the candidate from Gandhinagar.
Lal Krishna Advani has represented Gandhinagar six times from 1991 onwards. Denying him ticket this time means practically end of the road for his political career. In 2014 Rajnath Singh was BJP President and Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate was not in a position to deprive Advani of ticket. After Rajnath Singh became Home Minister and quit as BJP President, Amit Shah became BJP President and Modi’s hold on BJP was complete except for RSS influence. BJP Parliamentary Board was reconstituted and seniors like Atal Behari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were put in Margdarshak Mandal. Modi did not want Advani in any important position and Speaker’s post went to Sumitra Mahajan.
In 1991 Advani had first filed his papers from New Delhi. Congress fielded Rajesh Khanna against him. Then Advani contested from Gandhinagar also. Advani won both seats and resigned New Delhi seat.
There is picture of Advani filing 1991 nomination papers from Gandhinagar. Modi is sitting next to him and helping him. Amit Shah is one of many people standing behind.
It is said BJP’s Gujarat unit did not send any name for Gandhinagar. They wanted Modi or Shah to contest from Gandhinagar. Last time Modi had contested from Baroda and Varanasi. He won both seats and gave up Baroda.
This is not the last word on Advani. He had his chance in 2009. He failed. The possibility of his becoming Prime Minister is remote but can not be ruled out. In 1991 P. V. Narasimha Rao was to retire from his political career. Suddenly he became Congress President and Prime Minister.
