Advani likely to skip second day of BJP meet in Goa

The suspense over Lal Krishna Advani attending the second day of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Executive Meet continues even today as there has been no official word on whether the party veteran would be present in Goa where a decision is likely to be taken on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's elevation as the election committee chief.

The BJP yesterday said that Advani skipped the meet on the first day due to ill health.

Sending out a strong message that there is no conflict within the outfit, BJP President Rajnath Singh yesterday said Advani is unwell and will be attending the national executive meet tomorrow.

"Due to Advaniji's ill-health, I told him not to attend the meet today. He will reach Goa tomorrow," he told mediapersons here, when asked about Advani's absence.

Modi's role in the next Lok Sabha polls is also expected to be the dominant theme of the BJP National Executive meet. There has been a strong demand from some sections of the BJP for declaring Modi as the campaign committee head.

Some senior BJP leaders, including Advani, are opposed to Modi being projected as the party's foremost leader. Several other leaders close to Advani, including Jaswant Singh, Uma Bharti, and Shatrughan Sinha, have also said they are too unwell to travel to Goa.

Ahead of the BJP national executive meet, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikkar had come out strongly in support of Modi, and said that the latter should lead the BJP's election campaign.

BJP Vice President Smriti Irani, however, yesterday said that the Parliamentary Board of the party would take a final decision on whether Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would head the party's poll panel.

"Well, we all know what the Goa Chief Minister wants, we all know what the nation wants and what the workers want. But let me humbly remind you as the office bearer of Bharatiya Janata Party that ultimately our national president Rajnathji has said that we all have to wait and see what the parliamentary board wants," said Irani.