By IANS,
New Delhi: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani, who Friday relinquished his post of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and assumed charge as the BJP Parliamentary Party’s first chairman, asserted that it was not curtains yet for his political career.
Advani, while naming Sushma Swaraj his successor, said he felt a sense of relief and satisfaction over the developments.
“A new chapter is starting for me. What is my dominant feeling? A sense of relief. The de facto responsibility was on Sushma Swaraj and Arjun Jaitley. Now, they have been given de jure responsibility. I feel a sense of satisfaction,” Advani said while addressing the parliamentary party meeting.
“If anyone thinks that I will quit active politics, then it is all wrong. I think that I became a rath yatri at 14 when I was just out of high school and became a RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh) worker. This rath yatra would go on for life,” Advani, 82, added.
His reference was to a newspaper headline Friday “The Rath Yatri has finally got off”. “If my stepping down (as Leader of Opposition) means that I will leave politics or parliament, that is wrong,” he maintained.
Earlier, the BJP Parliamentary Party unanimously amended its constitution to create the chairman’s post and enable Advani’s transition to assume that post.
Advani also urged the BJP to introspect on its setbacks, and pointed out that the party was in power on its own in six states and in two others as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and was providing good governance through its development works.
BJP president Rajnath Singh described Advani as one of the party’s tallest leaders.
“His place in the party is very clear. He is one of its tallest leaders. We decided to amend the parliamentary party’s constitution to create a chairman’s post,” Singh said.
“A change of responsibility is a natural process which all of us have to accept. It is part of the natural progression. We should accept this,” he added.
Singh put the amendment to vote and the party MPs enthusiastically thumped their desks and waved their hands in the air – all of them except Advani – but the BJP president got past this by saying he was sure the amendment had the veteran leader’s support.
Former finance minister Yashwant Singh then moved a resolution on Advani’s election as parliamentary party chairman and this too was unanimously passed.