Before resignation, Advani attends House panel meeting

Advani was in the meeting presided by M Venkaiah Naidu for almost an hour, but did not speak

BJP patriarch L K Advani, who had skipped the Goa conclave of his party citing health reasons, today attended a meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee of Home Affairs, raising many eyebrows.

Advani was in the meeting presided by another party leader M Venkaiah Naidu for almost an hour, a member of the panel said, adding that the BJP veteran did not speak at the meeting.

The meeting lasted for some three hours as the Committee discussed the problems facing the North East development.

Advani attended the meeting before submitting his resignation from the party's key posts to BJP President Rajnath Singh.

The 85-year-old leader had skipped the three-day deliberations of the party at Goa that saw the anointment of Narendra Modi as BJP's Election Committee chief.

Advani, a founder member of BJP and considered the party patriarch after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, resigned today from all main fora of the party -- Parliamentary Board, National Executive and Election Committee.

In his resignation letter to Singh, he rued that most of the BJP leaders are concerned just with their "personal agenda" and that he was finding it difficult to reconcile with either the functioning of the party or the direction in which it is going.