It’s official,Advani is Opposition leader

With the BJP Parliamentary Party electing him as its leader,L K Advani on Sunday got the partys mandate to recast the BJP for the future.

With the BJP Parliamentary Party electing him as its leader,L K Advani on Sunday got the partys mandate to recast the BJP for the future. The BJP,however,failed to elect various office-bearers,and Advani was authorised to nominate the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha,besides deputy leaders and chief whips in both the Houses.

A final announcement on the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha is expected just before the Rajya Sabha meets on June 4. With the Congresss decision to nominate Dalit leader Meira Kumar for the Speakers post,the BJP is now said to be considering various social and regional equations before zeroing in on its candidate. The party is expected to decide on this at its Parliamentary board meeting,slated for Tuesday.

Sushma Swaraj is the frontrunner for the post of deputy leader in the Lok Sabha and S S Ahluwalia is likely to be her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha,said sources. If M Venkaiah Naidu goes on to become Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha,Arun Jaitley would be the frontrunner for the party presidents post when Rajnaths term gets over later this year,added sources. In an interview with The Indian Express on May 28,Rajnath had said that he wished to be left out of all this for a year or two.

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Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra said that once the new (party) president line-up has been cleared,I am sure Advani will step down and hand over charge to the next generation.

The seating arrangement at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting on Sunday was made state-wise with Advani,for instance,seated along with his fellow MPs from Gujarat,and Rajnath beginning the proceedings as the party president. Besides nominating Advani as the leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party,most of the time was taken by the MPs introducing themselves there are as many as 58 first-time MPs in the party.

In his address,Advani also stressed on introspecting on why the party fared badly in states like Rajasthan,UP,Delhi,Haryana,Uttarakhand and Orissa,and why its performance was below par in states like Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Since the BJP is unrepresented in several states in the 15th Lok Sabha,an added responsibility has been placed on our MPs to voice in Parliament the issues relating to such states, he said,adding that his party needed to chalk out a plan to expand its support base in states like Andhra Pradesh,TN,Kerala and West Bengal in the coming five years.