Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani on Friday decided to skip the party’s crucial Parliamentary Board meeting , which was held prior to the anointment of Narendra Modi as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 general elections.
Advani sent a letter to party president Rajnath Singh expressing disappointment with Singh’s functioning and making it clear that he would not attend the meeting. Earlier in the day, Singh had met Advani at the latter’s residence in a bid to convince him to take part attend .
“Today afternoon (sic), when you came to inform me about the Parliamentary board meeting, I had expressed my sorrow and disappointment on your style of working,” Advani said in his letter addressed to Singh.
He said he dwelled on whether he should put forward his concerns at the meet or not, but eventually decided “that it is better I do not attend today’s meeting.”
Muted action
Advani’s residence saw muted action right through the day, with senior party leaders such as Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari, meeting him.
It was expected that on arriving in Delhi, Modi too would first meet Advani, in line with his earlier statement that he would take everyone along. However, the Gujarat Chief Minister proceeded to Gujarat Bhawan instead. He visited Advani only after his anointment.
Interestingly, around 5.30 p.m., the time the meeting was supposed to begin, Advani’s convoy was readied and it was believed that he was preparing to leave for the meet. However, the cars were soon withdrawn.
Later in the day, even as Modi supporters celebrated with fire crackers in front of the BJP office, the scene in front of the octogenarian leader’s house remained quiet.