How Congress is gleefully jumping into BJP's Advani vs Modi fight

Minister for Information and Broadcasting,  senior Congress leader Manish Tewari, added his two cents to the ‘Advani Vs the rest’ debate on whether or not to name Modi as PM candidate, slamming the RSS for ‘forcing’ their decisions down the throat of the BJP. “A Nagpur-based shadowy cabal of unaccountable geriatric gentlemen in period attire ram decisions down BJP’s throat & call it Int Democracy!” tweeted Tewari, whose account is still locked and cannot be accessed by anyone unless he approves it. [caption id=“attachment_1106123” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] Tewari’s comments come amid speculation that the BJP, together with the RSS, is all set to bulldoze a stubborn Advani and go ahead and name Narendra Modi as its official Prime Ministerial candidate today. According to Firstpost editor Sanjay Singh, the stage is all set for a massive political potboiler. “Some very swift and strong moves are being made by hardcore protagonists of the Gujarat chief minister on two fronts. First, make some last-ditch efforts to convince him of the inevitability of Modi’s coronation; and second, if that does not happen, then move to bulldoze his opposition in such a manner that he ends up becoming completely marginalised”, he writes in this piece . “Though the RSS had clearly told the BJP that their preferred choice was Modi, they had not given the party a deadline to make an announcement. Given the current impasse, however, it may choose to end its passive role and intervene decisively,” he adds. Part of the reason for the delay in announcement is reportedly that BJP President Rajnath Singh is still hoping that Advani can be convinced to come around to the inevitability of the timing of the announcement of Modi as PM candidate, to avoid a potentially embarrassing and highly public internal fight. Not that this has not already happened. The dissent is very much out in the open now. Bihar state unit president Sushil Kumar Modi yesterday tweeted two statements that were very critical of the BJP patriarch: 

  He later tried to mitigate the impact of his tweets with a few others praising Advani:

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But the damage was already done. Meanwhile, staunch Advani loyalist Sudheendhra Kulkarni took to his own Twitter account to attack Narendra Modi:

  And of course, as Manish Tewari’s early morning tweet implies, the Congress is gleefully watching the internal politics of the BJP unfold. “The entire country is watching what kind of pulls and pressures are happening within the BJP. A party, which is trying to come power to rule the country, is not being able to handle its internal conflicts.It’s a confused party with a confused agenda and confused people. Those who are confused behave only this way,” party spokesperson Meem Afzal told reporters on Thursday. All eyes are on BJP President Rajnath Singh now. Will he bite the bullet and name Modi for PM, or will he bow to the pressures of his seniormost leaders and hold off on the announcement? Either way, it’s bound to be an interesting Friday the thirteenth for both the Congress and BJP.