NEW DELHI, March 19: Fierce lobbying by the swadeshi hardliners forced Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's hand on Jaswant Singh, resulting in his last-minute exclusion from the Union Cabinet today.The debate over Singh raged through most of last night and after a flurry of telephone calls and a late-evening visit by RSS ideologue K Sudershan, Vajpayee reluctantly decided in the early hours of the morning to leave Singh out of his cabinet for the time being.
But his distress over the entire episode, coming so soon after the clash with AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha, was written all over his face.
The controversy could not have been a more inauspicious beginning for the BJP's shaky coalition. Vajpayee's inability to induct somebody of his choice highlights the constraints under which he will be functioning as he attempts to balance ideology with pragmatic governance. And insiders fear that this may be only the first humiliation. Although the drama on the allocation of the finance portfolio has been goingon for several days, last evening, it seemed as if Vajpayee had finally got his way on Singh. Advani had agreed to a waiver of the party's decision to keep defeated candidates out of the cabinet and the RSS, after an initial warning, kept mum.
What seems to have clinched the swadeshi hardliners' argument against Singh was the hectic lobbying in his favour by the CII and FICCI. Both organisations sent delegations to meet Vajpayee and Singh even before the cabinet list was finalised.
The campaign against Singh in BJP and RSS circles reached a crescendo on this point last night, prompting Sudershan to go to Vajpayee's house to caution him in person. After that the PM had to bow to the request.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
