In a subtle message to his party leaders to put the interest of the organisation first, senior leader L K Advani on Tuesday asked them to work towards reviving BJP as a "party with a difference".
Advani, who seems to be fashioning himself in the role of an elder statesman who is above inner party squabbles, said, "Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to say we were a party with a difference. We all should strive towards achieving this aim." He was speaking at a function held here to mark the birth anniversary of party ideologue Shyama Prasad Mookherjee.
Advani's statement has come at a time when the BJP is still grappling with internal dissensions and several of its leaders speaking in different voices on issues.
This had even led the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the fountainhead of the Sangh Parivar, to tell the BJP top brass that the writ of party president should run and his word on any issue should be the final.
After RSS propped up Nitin Gadkari as president of the BJP it wants to ensure that he succeeds in his project of reviving the party. "His failure would mean failure of the RSS," a senior BJP leader said.
As if toeing the Sangh line of putting the "country first, party second and self last", Advani said, "We are in politics not to serve our own agenda but to make this country great."
This appeared to be a message to BJP's top brass who are mostly seen competing with each other for one-upmanship. It had led critics to call it the "party with differences" after BJP suffered its second successive Lok Sabha poll debacle. Advani praised the BJP and its leaders as being "unique, incomparable (Ananya)" and asked the cadre to make the most of this. "In life, there are some opportunities that one should never let go," Advani said. PTI
