By IANS,
New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani was appointed working chairman of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) while Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav was selected its convenor at a meeting here Sunday.
“Mr Advani was unanimously appointed as working chairman of the NDA, and Mr Yadav was appointed convenor of the alliance,” Deputy leader of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha S.S. Ahluwalia told reporters.
The meeting was attended by BJP leaders such as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Naresh Gujral.
It was presided over by Sharad Yadav, who has been working as acting convenor. Officially, the JD(U) leader George Fernandes, though ill, was still the convenor.
Ahluwalia said that soon after the meeting began, Yadav expressed wishes for the early recovery of ailing former prime minister A.B. Vajpayee, who is the NDA chairman.
Yadav then noted that that with Vajpayee still unwell, there was need to carry on the work of NDA and expose the anti-people policies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. He proposed the name of Advani as working chairman. The proposal was supported by the Shiv Sena.
Sushma Swaraj then proposed that Yadav should be made convenor of NDA, which was accepted by the assembled leaders.