Advani resigns from all positions in BJP
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies

New Delhi, June 10 2013: A day after Narendra Modi became the BJP's campaign committee chief, senior party leader L K Advani resigned from all top party posts - the national executive, parliamen-tary board and the election committee.

The senior leader sent a letter to BJP president Rajnath Singh informing him of his resignation.

Advani had skipped the BJP executive meet in Goa held over the weekend.

The BJP leadership on Su-nday had appointed Narendra Modi as the chairman of its national election committee in a significant step towards co-mplete compliance with the pressure from the cadre to de-clare the Gujarat CM the saf- fron candidate for prime ministership.

The decision came in the face of resistance of stalwart L K Advani and marks Modi's emergence as BJP's pre- eminent leader at the expense of the former deputy PM and many others.

Some of Advani's unhap-py colleagues chose to dis- guise their sullenness, but the senior leader stayed away fr-om the national executive am- id signs of his unhappiness with the big leg-up for Modi.

Although an unpreceden-ted event considering the un- flinching regularity with whi-ch former deputy PM would attend party meets, his absence did not deter the lead- ership from acquiescing into the clamour from the cadre for Modi to be anointed as the party's spearhead for the 2014 battle.

In a conspicuous departure from the routine, none of the speakers mentioned Advani.

Modi expressed his gratitude to seniors who mentored him, but refrained from naming na-mes.

The omission of Advani from the proceedings looked even glaring against the backdrop of slogans and drum- beats celebrating leadership's embrace of cadre's hope that Modi would be the new talisman delivering them next year the trophy which Advani had failed to bag in 2009 .

Besides taking the party out of the long and still-lingering shadow of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani and en-shrining the role of cadre pre- ssure as a major factor in Sa-ngh Parivar's decision-mak- ing, the big boost for Modi also heralds his rise as principal challenger to the Cong- ress - in fact the entire "secular" end of the political esta- blishment.

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