There were murmurs of protest over the ‘‘manner’’ in which Swaraj had expressed the party position. Some leaders, requesting anonymity, contended her choice of words — ‘‘party ka is se koi lena-dena nahin hai’’ — was too harsh. A senior leader even questioned the authority of the collegium of the meetings at which the party decided to treat the Rahul case only as ‘‘a family tragedy.’’ He contended that ‘‘four leaders’’ gathering at 30, Prithviraj Road (the residence of leader of L K Advani) did not ‘‘mean the party.’’

However, these outbursts were a complete give-away too. The sources saw the rather unusual effort of Naqvi and Mishra in the context of the recent remark made by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Manali — ‘‘Such mistakes happen in young age’’. Since Swaraj had re-affirmed the party position immediately after a Central Election Committee meeting attended by senior leaders, many in the party felt she had contradicted the former PM. Therefore, by positioning themselves against Swaraj’s view, they felt they were backing the Vajpayee-line.

Party spokesman Prakash Javdekar also packaged his position differently today, a day after he had said, ‘‘Our stand has been made clear by Sushmaji.’’ Speaking in Allahabad, he said, ‘‘The BJP does not believe in deserting the family of its dedicated workers. Pramod had served the party for a long time. Now that he is no more, the party will certainly take care of his family.’’

However, Rajnath Singh told The Indian Express: ‘‘We have sympathy for Pramodji’s family. Everybody is pained by what has happened. The police is investigating the case and it would not be proper to drag the name of the party in it.’’