Politics | Updated Jan 27, 2008 at 10:22pm IST

Move over Atal, BJPs face are Advani, Modi

Shiv Pujan Jha, Divyamanu ChaudhryCNN-IBN

New Delhi:The BJP's three-day long national executive meet began in Delhi on Sunday, with L K Advani formally at the helm.

In a fair indication of how the BJP is resolving its crucial leadership issue, the national executive ratified L K Advani being the undisputed numero uno.

Since the BJP's inception in 1980, this was the first time that a national executive meet was being held with Advani formally at the helm. Interestingly, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is not attending the meeting.

However, the meet on Sunday was witness to yet another sign that the fastest rising star in the BJP firmament is Narendra Modi.

The Gujarat ka Sardar was heralded as the BJP’s sardar and the candid admission came from the man who had earlier dropped Modi from the party's Parliamentary board – Rajnath Singh himself. The BJP President’s words of praise for the Gujarat Chief Minister took away the spotlight from Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani.

“The party president said that the victory in Gujarat is the victory of the BJP's ideology and Modi's work as CM. He assured that the NDA would come back to power under the leadership of Advani just like it did under Vajpayee,” BJP Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told CNN-IBN.

“Advaniji has been endorsed by the NDA and we are hopeful,” he said.

The party's think-tank is strategising on upcoming state elections and the Lok Sabha elections next year. The issue figured prominently in the executive and the party's national council will discuss it over the next two days.

Terrorism is also high on the agenda. The party is looking to stage a frontal attack on what it calls the UPA's soft policies on tackling terror.

The BJP hopes to use Modi across the country to send the message that the UPA has failed to control terrorism across the country, showing the party’s open acknowledgement of Modi as a future leader.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)

Comments (3)

All comments will be published after moderation

Trending Searches

#Nitin Gadkari #Tobacco #Brendan Rodgers #Indian Railways #Mahesh Bhupathi #Air India #Serena Williams #Multiple sclerosis #Narendra Modi #Kolkata Knight Riders #Nitin Gadkari #Narendra Modi #Jagan #VK Singh #Naveen Patnaik #UPA #Andhra Pradesh #Saudi Arabia #Goa