Rajnath Singh clarifies after Advani skips Goa conclave

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Saturday once again clarified that party veteran Lal Krishna Advani is not attending the national executive meet in Goa due to ill-health.

Singh said that all kinds of baseless news are doing the rounds that Advani knowingly skipped the national executive meet in Goa.

"I know that he is not well at this point of time. The doctors have advised him not to move anywhere. Despite this, he wanted to attend the meet saying all kinds of baseless news will be made about it. I once again spoke to him today and found that he is not well. I also spoke to the doctor," Singh told Asian News International (ANI) here.

"He is not in a condition to come. I have myself asked him not to come and attend the executive meet, and I told him that I would give this information to all the members in the national executive meet. And I have given this information to all our members in the national executive," he added.

Cutting across party lines, leaders of various political outfits, including that of the ruling Congress Party, have criticised the BJP over the infighting within its fold following Advani's absence at Goa conclave.

85-year-old Advani has cited 'ill health' as the reason behind not attending the meeting in Panaji.

Advani's absence from the office bearer's meeting in Goa has given a clear indication that he is upset with the proposal of making Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi the face of the party's poll campaign panel. There are even reports in the media quoting him, as insisting that Rajnath Singh should take key party decisions only in his presence. Advani earlier on Friday skipped an important session of the 12 office-bearers of BJP. According to reports, a chartered flight that was hired to take Advani to Goa this morning for the party's national executive was cancelled. Some senior BJP leaders are also opposed to Modi being projected as the party's foremost leader. Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh, Uma Bharti, Maneka Gandhi, Varun Gandhi and Shatrughan Sinha are also not attending the Goa conclave.

Modi's detractors fear that his elevation as chief of the party's election committee is just one step away from him being declared the BJP's prime ministerial candidate - a position some of them believe they deserve.