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New Delhi: BJP circles are agog with speculation that veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani may have decided to groom daughter Pratibha Advani as his political successor.
Pratibha's long thanksgiving speech at the launch of her father's autobiography, My Country, My Life last week is being interpreted as part of the grooming exercise.
"It is no secret to anyone in the party that Pratibha has political ambitions. She is welcome to join the party but has to work her way through the ranks to realise her ambitions," a senior national vice president of the party said.
Extremely critical
Interestingly, both Advani and the party that has nominated him as its prime ministerial candidate for next year's general elections have in the past been extremely critical of the rival Congress party for promoting family members in politics.
Political observers, however, say that the BJP has long been following the Congress way with family members of several leaders occupying positions due to their surname.
"Why point out Pratibha when the likes of Dushyant Singh and Manvendra Singh are already Members of Parliament. They are there only due to their family links," said a party general secretary considered close to Advani who turned 80 last winter.
While Dushyant who represents Jhalawar seat of Rajasthan in Lok Sabha is son of Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Manvendra, the MP from Rajasthan's Barmer seat, is son of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh.
Future premier
The BJP was extremely critical of the promotion of the Gandhi-Nehru family members in the Congress party. Jawaharlal Nehru, the Republic's first prime minister, promoted his daughter Indira Gandhi as his political successor, while Indira, as the prime minister, groomed her sons Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv's widow Sonia Gandhi is the incumbent president of the Congress party while her son Rahul Gandhi, a party general secretary, is being seen as a future prime minister.
BJP too opted to bring into its fold members of the Gandhi-Nehru family by admitting Sanjay Gandhi's widow Maneka, who is a Lok Sabha member, and their only son Varun Gandhi into the party.
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