The BJP's old guard is pretty much the Incredible Sulk these days. But unlike the Incredible Hulk does it have any superpowers?

Move over Incredible Hulk. The Incredible Sulk is here.

The question is whether unlike Bruce Banner’s green superhero, the BJP’s Incredible Sulk possesses any superpowers. Other than being green with envy at the rise of Narendra Modi.

Jaswant Singh, the MP from Darjeeling who filed his nomination as an Independent from Barmer "contesting on principle, and honour - not just my honour, but the honour of all the people of Barmer" is the latest to join the Sulk Club whose charter members are LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj along with Murli Manohar Joshi and Lalji Tandon. But Team Modi shows no signs of blinking. If Advani got a bit of an indulgent pat-on-the-head and a visit from Modi, Jaswant Singh got only tough love.

Arun Jaitley took time off from posing with a big gada and yellow turban (Ohh! The travails of actual campaigning ) to dispense this bit of advice for Singh basically saying old politicians, like children should be seen and not heard.

Restraint and silence are always a preferred option. Overreaction may prove to be a storm in a teacup. Silence is always dignified and gracious.



The question is what does the Incredible Sulk think it can achieve at this stage of the game. The BJP has for better or for worse put all its eggs in the Modi basket. That Team Modi is moving the old guard out of the way is not surprising or unprecedented. Indira Gandhi did the same with great ruthlessness when she was selected to be the Prime Minister after the sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri.

But the difference is Mrs Gandhi waited to move into the house before starting her house-cleaning. Team Rajnath/Modi has commenced with “adjusting” the old furniture out of the way even before the first vote has been cast.

That unseemly haste seems to have caught the old guard off-guard and sent them into a giant sulk. Where the current leadership failed was to orchestrate a smoother transition. PR Ramesh writes in Open that the RSS had drawn up a plan a year ago to do just that.

"This plan had outlined a path to ease the party’s senior citizens (aged 75-plus years) out of seats in the Lower House and move them gradually to the House of Elders instead," writes Ramesh.

But the plan came to naught because Advani was not ready to be shunted or had not been assuaged/coaxed/sweet-talked enough into doing that. Had Advani been persuaded to go quietly, the rest of the senior citizens would have likely followed suit.

Except that would still leave the Sushma Swaraj problem. One cannot really begrudge her her sulk. Sushma Swaraj as leader of opposition not unnaturally viewed herself as a sort of shadow Prime Minister. But Modi has overshadowed her claim. The problem seems to be that Sushma Swaraj expected gratitude for giving in to the Modi coronation within the party. Instead she finds herself being repeatedly sidelined.

So now she is left with striking a sort of conscience-of-the-party pose whether it’s about feeling the pain of Jaswant Singh or her famous tweet about tainted Karnataka leader B. Sriramulu.

I want to make it absolutely clear that B.Sriramulu has been admitted in the party despite my stiff opposition.



It’s a calculated move to play the good martyr. Right now it just makes her seem more alienated, the miffed minority, rather than powerful. But an unnamed senior leader tells the Economic Times don’t count her out.

“She may be sitting on the sidelines now but one must remember that all substitute players sit there, watching and waiting for their chance.She is acting independently, taking a high moral ground and creating a public image that is more inclusive and acceptable,” she said.

In short, she is creating a spot on the bench for herself as the Not-Modi ready to spring to service if the need arises. That’s where Modi supporters like Madhu Kishwar smell sabotage. Kiswar has been Sushma’s Twitter baiter-in-chief. She has been going after Swaraj hammer and tongs for weeks.

General buzz in BJP-Wherever dead hand of Sushma Swaraj influenced candidate selection, BJP sure to loose.She wants it stays within 170 mark.



Sushma reportedly ensured weak candidate in Haryana against Naveen Jindal. She has played havoc where ever she cd with candidate selection.



Kishwar has been warning for a while about a Club 160 within the BJP that wants a smaller majority that would prevent a Modi from coming to power. What probably is rattling Modi’s in-house opposition right now is that some external players like Ram Vilas Paswan and the Telugu Desam Party are cozying up to the Modi-led BJP.

The Pramod Muthalik fiasco has given the likes of Kishwar even more fuel for her conspiracy fire. The Telegraph reports that party sources are claiming Operation Muthalik was planned by general secretary Ananth Kumar and state unit chief Prahlad Joshi to “discredit” Modi as a Hindutva hardliner. “I swear Joshi would not have done this without Ananth’s blessings,” a Karnataka BJP source said. And who blesses Ananth? He is supposed to have done this “in tandem” with Advani and Sushma Swaraj.

Kishwar who had earlier tweeted wondering if Ananth Kumar’s hand was in this subsequently griped “Whoever responsible for giving Muthalik a BJP ticket can't be a well wisher- suicidal move! Such lumpen elements don't deserve to be MPs.”

Muthalik is now out. The Congress is delighted about the Much Ado About Muthalik though its chortling sounds like the deluded humour of the captain of the Titanic. Swaraj these days is busy tweeting out her own record at the hustings.

Yes. I am going to contest my 11th direct election. I have fought 10 elections already from four states.



Take that Mr. Novice candidate Arun Jaitley seems to be the message there.

And Advani has acceded to Gandhinagar. And Murli Manohar Joshi has made vacated Varanasi for Modi. But the Incredible Sulk isn’t going everywhere. It just keeps hoping that like its green Marvel counterpart, the angrier it gets, the more secret powers it will acquire until one day, like Bruce Banner, it can deliver the SULK SMASH!