Party with differences

The chances to dislodge the ruling dispensation seems remote but the 'party with a difference' is already fighting with differences over the prime ministerial candidate. Aging Atal, hardliner Advani or the new bridegroom Rajnath, the party is fighting a war on a surreptitous battleground. Having run out of issues to put the treasury benches on the mat in the Parliament, perhaps the safforn party is now embracing the escapist route knowing fully well that power hunt is going to be tough.
Isn't it tomfoolery on the part of the BJP to discuss the PM candidate in the Lucknow convention when the elections are scheduled to be held in 2009. With no possibility of a mid term poll, there's no point in discussing a hypothetical situation. The party leadership instead must call for boosting the morale of the grassroots cadre as well as addressing its problem of reaching out to the rural India. Urban votebank and glitzy campaigns, as it must have learnt by the drubbing down it got in the last general elections, are not enough to win the polls. And Hindutva, of course, is not going to work. Though the Mandal magic may still be relevant with the passage of a reservation Bill, the kamandal sutra is just not viable in the present context. Then why this hankering over PMship? Even the Bhismpitamah of Indian politics, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has not done much to put the party back on track. Reportedly, the BJP giant has annointed LK as his predecessor. With due respects to the former PM, wouldn't it have been a wise thing for him to ask his Lakshmans to focus on issues rather than bothering themselves with the leasership debate?