Divisions within the Bharatiya Janata Party grew deeper in the aftermath of its electoral drubbing with senior leaders questioning the leadership on how the party was being run and even the review of performance was being "cloaked in secrecy."
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani indicated on Monday that he had no plans to retire from politics."I do not want to retire," Advani told BBC news channel in an interview. He told the questioner that he gives advice to the party whenever it is sought.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani hoped that the strike called against price rise would put an end to criticism that the opposition was not doing enough on the issue. "Through you (the media) I would like to thank the people of the country for making Bharat Bandh an unprecedented success. I would also like to thank the people of Delhi and our supporters here for this success," he said.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader stepped down from the position of leader of opposition from Lok Sabha on Friday and handed over the reins to his successor Sushma Swaraj, who had been the party's deputy leader in Lok Sabha.
Gadkari has been called to New Delhi for the meeting and will be anointed party chief. The decision will be ratified by the BJP national council. The elevation of Swaraj as Leader of Opposition is almost a certainty, sources said.
A 96-hour bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha on Monday to press for Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills has been withdrawn.GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI from Delhi that the decision was taken after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley urged that the shutdown be called off for a normal situation to prevail before the tripartite talks begin in Darjeeling on December 21.However, the indefinite fast will continue.
Pranab Mukherjee Gulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel will liaise on behalf of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, while Gujarat Chief Miniser Narendra Modi, Jaswant Singh, S Gurumurthy and Cho Ramaswamy are the pointsmen for Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate L K Advani.
Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani will never become the prime minister of the country.
Congress Member of Parliament Jagdambika Pal, who served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for three days in 1998, had to face an awkward moment on Monday during the debate on the Liberhan Commission's report in the House, when the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party pointed out that the report listed him as a karsevak.Pal was the first Congress leader to speak during the Lok Sabha debate on the report, which indicts top BJP leaders L K Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Senior BJP leader and party prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Tuesday alleged that the Manmohan Singh Government is the most inefficient one which compromised national security and pushed the price-graph due to its financial mismanagement.
The absence of Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani at an event to mark 40 years of Emergency, where party chief Amit Shah was the main speaker and organised by a party-affiliated body, set off speculation whether the veteran leader was not invited.
The first anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks on Thursday saw Leader of the Opposition L K Advani expressing concern over the relief to the victims and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee hitting back, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of exploiting the 26/11 terror attacks for political gains