Upset Advani resigns from three key BJP posts

An upset and reportedly angry senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna Advani on Monday announced that he was resigning from three key positions in the party.

In a letter written and sent to BJP president Rajnath Singh, Advani said he had worked for the most part of his life for the Jan Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and now, he was finding it difficult to reconcile with the recent policies and actions of the party, besides the direction in which the BJP was heading.

In the light of the latest developments concerning the BJP, Advani said he was resigning from the BJP's national executive, the party's parliamentary board and its election committee.

Advani's sudden announcement to resign from key BJP posts, came a day after the party leadership appointed Narendra Modi as the chairman of its national election committee, much against the former's wishes.

Addressing party workers after the announcement of Modi's elevation, BJP chief Rajnath Singh said that he could not have ignored the wishes of millions of party workers, an assertion that was read as a message to the old guard and Modi's peers to come to terms with the inauguration of a new phase in BJP, where the Gujarat strongman will be playing the lead role, perhaps rivalling even the RSS's infuence.

"All political parties take elections as their biggest challenge and so do we. We will move ahead with the resolve of victory. Today (Sunday) I have appointed Gujarat CM Narendra Modi as chairman of the national election committee," he said.

BJP sources said that the leadership - working in tandem with the RSS - wants Modi to lead the party into the 2014 polls, and there were enough pointers in public here on Sunday to back that assumption.

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley also said that Modi's elevation is a step towards meeting country's aspiration for "someone who can take strong decisions and can lead".

Advani stayed away from the national executive amid signs of his unhappiness with the big leg-up for Modi.

In an apparent warning about what his next steps could be, Advani on Sunday made a reference to a wounded Bhishma Pitamah lying on a bed of arrows in a scene in Mahabharata.

The 83-year-old party stalwart, however, made no mention of the Gujarat chief minister in his blog or in a video address to a religious event in Jaipur.

The reference to Mahabharata epic - which is often interpreted metaphorically - was made by Advani in his blog on a day when Modi was anointed as chief of BJP's election campaign committee.

In his blog, Advani first praises a sandalwood carving of Lord Krishna's Vishwaroop avatar, which he says also has a carving of "Bhishma Pitamah on his bed of arrows, sermonizing to the Pandavas".