It is nearly five months since the Bharatiya Janata Party’s new leadership dropped its founding fathers, A.B. Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and M.M. Joshi from the Parliamentary Board and elevated them to a new body – the Margdarshak Mandal; the body, however, is yet to hold its first meeting.
Neither has the body, which is supposed to guide the party, been consulted on important party decisions, a member told The Hindu.
On August 26, 2014, BJP’s new party president Amit Shah announced the constitution of a new Parliamentary Board with Mr. Vajyapee, Mr. Advani and Dr. Joshi excluded for the first time. Besides the three veterans, the five-member body includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, from whom Mr. Shah took over the reins in July 2014.
“What is the Margdarshak Mandal? I have no communication from the party about the formation of this mandal. I learnt about it from an online scroll on a TV news channel. Officially, I don’t even know who the other members are,” a member, who did not want to be named, said. He added that the party’s constitution did not have space for such committees.
"The Parliamentary Board is the highest decision-making body of the party,” he said. Besides occupying top slots in the government, Mr. Modi and Mr. Singh are members of the Parliamentary Board. “The board has met regularly since August 2014 and taken all important decisions,” an official source confirmed.
A close aide of Mr. Advani said: “There has been no meeting so far and none is scheduled in the near future. If there is one, we will let you know.” While Mr. Vajpayee is confined to his home in New Delhi due to failing health and is no longer active in politics, Mr Advani and Dr. Joshi are Lok Sabha MPs.
“All members except Mr. Vajpayee are MPs. They must be meeting in Parliament whenever necessary. Their guidance is always available to us,” general secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal said.
Corrections and Clarifications
Errors in front page graphic: “Left out in the cold” (Jan. 20, 2015) said L.K. Advani – Deputy Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004 – (it should have been 2002 to 2004 ) and A.B. Vajpayee – Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004 – (it should have been 1998 to 2004 ).
The graphic that accompanied this article has been removed.
