Setting aside reports that Leader of Opposition L K Advani might exit from politics on his birthday on Sunday, RSS has said the senior BJP leader would step down only after overseeing the taking over of a new party president early next year.

“The present BJP president completes his term in December. By the time the formalities for taking over by a new president are completed it would be January-end. Once that is done, Advani will step down as was decided earlier,” RSS leader Ram Madhav told the news agency. Earlier, there were reports that Advani might quit politics on his birthday.

The RSS leadership had asked Advani to choose his successor as well as ensure a smooth change of leadership after party president Rajnath Singh completes his term in December.

A BJP leader echoed similar sentiments, saying Advani was not stepping down now but there was a possibility of him quitting once a new president is chosen.

This would mean Advani, who turns 82 on Sunday, might give up the post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha in February-March 2010, party sources said.

“However, the issue has not been discussed afresh. These decisions were taken last month when a series of meetings were held between the RSS chief (Mohan Bhagwat) and BJP leadership,” Madhav said.

Earlier, Bhagwat had told India Today in an interview that he was told by BJP leaders that the party’s new president would be from outside Delhi. He had said the names of senior leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar for the top post had been ruled out.