New Delhi: L K Advani, who pitchforked
BJP close to portals of power at the Centre in early 1990s,
was on Friday elected to the newly-created post of Chairman of the
party's Parliamentary Party in the first step towards a
generational change in the organisational hierarchy.
82-year-old Advani was chosen at a meeting of party
MPs, which amended the Constitution of the BJP Parliamentary
Party to create the post, paving the way for election of
Sushma Swraj as the next Leader of the BJP in Lok Sabha and to
be its Leader of the Opposition.
Advani, who was given the power to appoint
leaders of the party in both the Houses of Parliament named
Swraj (57) to the post he held till now now. She represents
the younger face of the party in the top hierarchy in
accordance with RSS plans of party reins being given to
younger leaders.
Parallelly, Rajnath Singh (58) is expected to step
down as party President tomorrow to make way for 52-year-old
Nitin Gadkari as the party head.
The elevation of Advani in the Parliament Party marks
an end of the era in the BJP which was brought to the position
of the main Opposition in 1989 by Advani with his strident
Hindutva plank, capped by the Rath Yatra from Somnath to
Ayodhya.
From two seats in the Lok Sabha in 1984, to over 80
in 1989 and to 188 in 1999, Advani played a leading role along
with Atal Bihari Vajpayee to bring the party to power twice in
1998 and 1999 to head a coalition government.
But his leadership came under attack after the second
successive defeat of the party in the Lok Sabha elections
this May.
BJP President Rajnath Singh, who moved the resolution
to amend the BJP PP constitution, said Advani would continue
to "guide" the party.
Advani himself made it clear that he was not
calling it quits. Referring to a newspaper which this morning
said the "rath yatri is stepping down", he said "if someone
thinks that I will cease to be active and quitting politics or
keeping away from Parliament he is wrong."
"I became a rath yatri when I was 14 for the cause of
India's independence. I became a political yatri in 1951 when
Bhartiya Jan Sangh was formed and in the 70s I became a yatri
in Parliament for the cause of good governance.
"I am not discontinuing this yatra. This will
continue life long," he said.
Advani acknowledged RSS as the inspiration for his
entry into politics saying had he not been a "pracharak"
he would not have entered politics.
"This is a new chapter in my life," he said adding he
also felt a sense of relief and satisfaction.
Referring to Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, whom he
nominated the Leader of the Party in Rajya Sabha, Advani said
what was de facto till now, will become de jure.
Earlier, BJP Parliamentary Party amended Section 6 (a),
Clause (i) and (ii) to create the post of Chairperson of PP.
The amendment also vests in the Chairperson the power of
appointing Leader of BJP in both Houses of Parliament as well
as other posts like Chief Whips.
The amendment motion was moved by M Venkaiah Naidu and
seconded by Gopinath Munde.
Party President Rajnath Singh, who presided over the
meeting, then asked Yashwant Sinha to move the motion to elect
Advani as Chairman of the Parliamentary Party. The motion was
seconded by Ananth Kumar, S S Ahluwalia and others. It was
passed unanimously. A total of 112 MPs from both the Houses
were present.
Women MPs Najma Heptullah and Sumitra Mahajan hailed
the appointment of Swaraj, with the former saying Advani's
move after becoming Chairman was to appoint a woman as LOP
while the latter said Swaraj deserved it as she had the
ability.
In her speech, Swaraj said a big responsibility had
been put on her small shoulders and maintained that when this
proposal was put to her, she had insisted that Advani should
continue to guide her.
‘Stepping down not end of era’
BJP leader L K Advani today
said his stepping down as the Leader of the Opposition does
not mark the "end of an era" in politics but the beginning of
a "new chapter" in his political life.
"It is not end of an era. In my life and politics,
this is a new chapter," 82-year-old Advani said as he made way
for Sushma Swaraj (57) as the Leader of the Opposition in a
generational shift in the party's top leadership.
Advani was chosen chairperson of BJP parliamentary
party, a post created for him through an amendment of the
party's constitution.
Advani, who was given the power to appoint leaders of
the party in both the Houses of Parliament, named Swaraj to
the post he had held till now, and renominated Arun Jaitley as
leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha.
Advani said "there is no political party in India which
has set up such a strong base in so few years".
"Even now, we are ruling eight states, out of which
we have our own government in six states," he said addressing
the BJP Parliamentary party meet after taking over as its new
chairman.
PTI
First Published: Friday, December 18, 2009, 23:14