New Delhi, December 18: The much awaited change of guard within the BJP finally took place on Friday when Leader of Opposition LK Advani announced his decision to step down from his position in the Lok Sabha.
The BJP Parliamentary Committee met here in the evening and decided to appoint senior leader Sushma Swaraj as the new Leader of Opposition.
Advani, however was elected the Chairman of BJP parliamentary party, a tailor made post that BJP created after amending its constitution. He thus has power to decide who will be the Leader of Opposition in both the Houses of Parliament.
The election of 57-year-old Sushma Swaraj, deputy leader of the party in Lok Sabha, is conceived to be an RSS move to usher in younger leadership against the backdrop of the debacle in Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile BJP President Rajnath Singh is also reported to have tendered his resignation, paving the way for Maharashtra party unit Chief Nitin Gadkari to take over, party sources said here today.
Nitin Gadkari, BJP’s Maharasthra state unit chief, was called to Delhi for the meeting and was anointed party unit Chief.
In the wake of these developments, a number of posts would be up for grabs in the party.
The race for the post of Deputy Leader of BJP in the Lower House is now between Ananth Kumar, Gopinath Munde and Shahnawaz Hussain.
Munde and Yashwant Sinha are also eyeing the post of Public Accounts Committee Chairman which has fallen vacant after Jaswant Singh’s resignation.
Soon after Lok Sabha defeat, Advani had suggested to the party top brass to choose a new leader of opposition, but it was ignored and he was chosen for the post. But later RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat stepped in to suggest that the party better look at having a younger leadership between 55 and 65 years of age.
Reacting on this new change, BJP president Rajnath Singh said that Advani is above any party and will continue to guide the BJP.
On being asked to comment on his decision of stepping down, Advani said that he will take part in the day today activities of the party and will remain a “Rath Yatri” forever. “I took to Rath Yatra when I was 14, and was barely out of high school. It has now become way of life for me,” he said.
–Agencies