LK Advani, senior BJP leader, has quit all posts in the party, a day after he was over-ruled and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was chosen to head the party’s campaign in elections due next year, Indian television channel NDTV reports.
BJP President Rajnath Singh called on Advani at his residence in Delhi this afternoon. Attempts to appease the stalwart and a request to refrain from going public with his resignation both failed, the NDTV report says.
Singh later tweeted that he has rejected Advani’s resignation. However, party sources say that the BJP is clear that no compromise will be offered that will affect the new status given to Modi.
The 85-year-old has resigned as a member of the BJP’s parliamentary board, its national executive and its election committee.
Minutes after his appointment as election committee chief was declared yesterday at a BJP conference in Goa, Modi, 62, had tweeted “Spoke to Advani ji on the phone. He gave me his blessings.” So far, there has been no comment from him today.
It was reportedly an RSS writ that impelled Singh, as party president, to go public with Modi’s role despite Advani’s absence in Goa. Today, RSS leaders said the BJP should persuade Advani to revoke his resignation.
Many within the BJP fear that the chief minister is too divisive to lead the party back to power after nearly a decade in opposition.
Modi has repeatedly proved his popularity among voters in Gujarat, but he is tainted by the riots in 2002 in which hundreds of Muslims were killed during his first term in office.
Source: The Daily Star
