A day after Mr L K Advani tendered his resignation from the post of Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha,

owning moral responsibility for the BJPs defeat in the general election, efforts were on to persuade him to stay on. A string of senior BJP leaders made a beeline to Mr Advanis 30, Prithviraj Road residence all through the day in an attempt to pile up pressure on him to reconsider his decision. The party veteran, however, was said to be unrelenting. Former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi, an arch-rival of Mr Advani within the BJP set-up, had, in the meanwhile, begun positioning himself for the opposition leaders post. Fresh from his electoral victory from Varanasi, Mr Joshi just could keep his anxiety in check. Mr Advani is a very important senior leader. His decision of not continuing as Leader of the Opposition must have been well considered, Mr Joshi told newspersons here on Sunday. After
the electoral defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) seems to be on the verge of collapse with its only victorious constituent the Janata Dal (United) appearing to be distancing itself from forming the Opposition. Top sources in the JD(U) said that despite the NDAs good show in Bihar, where Nitish Kumar is leading JD(U)-BJP government, the party is apparently in a mood to review its electoral adjustments with the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, who is also the convener of the NDA, has not visited or even spoken to L K Advani, the BJPs prime ministerial choice, ever since the BJP received a drubbing in the elections. Party sources said the last time the two met in Ludhiana, Punjab, at the NDAs lone election rally in the state. Yadav told Business Standard that though the JD(U) has done well in Bihar, the partys failure in other states was a cause of worry for him. Before convening the meeting of the NDA, he said he would have to look into the causes of defeat of his own party. First, we have to look at our own affairs and NDA meeting would follow, he said. Riding on the development wave generated by Nitish Kumars work, the JD(U)-BJP combine have swept the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar by bagging 32 seats. However, the JD(U) had felt that the BJP had given it a raw deal in seat-sharing in all the three states. Yadav said that one of the reasons for the BJPs defeat was the party raising the issue about Narendra Modi as its next prime ministerial candidate in the middle of the elections. Such a talk should have been nipped in the bud as we did it when Nitish Kumars name was being propped up, he said. It only helps to create confusion. The JD(U) leaders had also declined to sign a BJP-proposed NDA agenda for governance and the NDA did not hold a single meeting on common strategy in the tun up to the general elections. Besides, JD(U), the only NDA constituent that is happy with the poll outcome is the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh, which has won five of the seven seats it had contested from western Uttar Pradesh in an pre-poll arrangement with the BJP. However, the BJP did not gain from the alliance as its tally in UP remained unchanged at 10 seats. The performance of Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, where it managed to win just 4 Lok Sabha seats, was the most dismal. Besides, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) in Assam was just reduced to one seat, while the Telengana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won only two. The BJP had pinned its hopes of making substantial gains in these three states. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) led by O P Chautala in Haryana, did not even win a single seat. A section of the BJP was opposed to return of INLD into the NDA fold and had opted for Bhajan Lal-led Janhit Party, which has managed to win one seat.

The Shiv Sena faired poorly in Maharashtra with just winning 11 seats.

However, the entry of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJMM), a small regional group from West Bengal into the NDA fold, had helped BJPs senior leader Jaswant Singh win from Darjeeling. The problem with

the former BJP president is that he does not have many admirers within the party. Hes not known to carry his colleagues with him, and has antiquated ideas on crucial issues. The age factor would also go against him. Mr Joshis attempts to latch on to the post, moreover, is expected to run into stiff resistance from other sections within the party. There are at least three more contenders in the reckoning for the post, including Mr Jaswant Singh, Ms Sushma Swaraj and Mr Rajnath Singh. Mr Rajnath Singhs tenure as the BJP president comes to the close in December this year. Itd, therefore, be tempting for him to land himself with the job of the Leader of the Opposition. Given his highly uninspiring report-card as party president and relative lack of legislative experience, its unlikely that hell be entrusted with the responsibility. Ms Swaraj, when asked by newspersons in Bhopal whether she was in the race for the post, ruled herself out. Its difficult for me to even think of replacing Advaniji as Leader of the Opposition while hes around. There is no such proposal and Ive not given my consent to any such idea, she said. The fourth claimant for the post, Mr Jaswant Singh, who won the election from Darjeeling, may not be able to make it for the simple reason that the premium would be on age. The party would prefer to have a younger leader grace the post. The fact that Mr Jaswant Singh is also quite inaccessible would also be held against him.