IT could be said that the national executive meet of the BJP in Mumbai was overpowered by the spectacular seesawing of personal equations between its prominent leaders. There it was, all on show: Narendra Modi versus Sanjay Joshi. Modi vs Nitin Gadkari, B.S. Yeddyurappa vs L.K. Advani. Even Advani vs Gadkari. Or Sushma Swaraj vs Modi. Day 1 was only about Joshi’s resignation from the party’s national executive…. It was also about Modi deigning to make an appearance, but only after Joshi’s resignation was announced in public. On Day 2, the absence of Advani from a party rally, although known in advance … became a headline….

So, at a time when the BJP should have been using the two-day get-together to aggressively package itself as an alternative to a self-destructing UPA, the news from the national executive seemed only to showcase its internal churn…. This national executive may well turn out to be consequential for the party. For one, the end of Modi’s prolonged sulk … could be crucial in an election year in Gujarat. It may also send out a larger message. Recently, the BJP has been drawing attention for its failure to stanch the crises in states where its powerful regional leaders have openly taken on the central leadership. Modi has topped this list….

Modi’s participation in Mumbai, after serial no-shows in the national executive in Delhi and the UP campaign, could begin to turn that story around. Then, a second term for Gadkari serves up a crucial signal of continuity….. Yet, now that Gadkari stays on … there is an opening for the BJP to change the subject. It remains to be seen whether or not the BJP can seize the Mumbai moment…. Lately, the party has shown none of the agility and the sheer will to power that helped it to claw its way to centre stage in the 1990s. It must demonstrate that it is more than a party reduced to incoherence in the face of the refusal of the old order to fade gracefully or the personality cult of the new leader. —(May 26)