Advani will not be BJP leader in 2014 polls: Naidu

New Delhi, Oct 8 (PTI) Former BJP (Bhartiya Janata
Party) President M Venkaiah Naidu has said the party will not
contest the next Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament)
elections under the leadership of L K Advani and agreed that
it would be logical for the party to get a new leadership at
that juncture.

"Advani is not going to contest the next elections. We
are not going to fight the next elections under his
leadership. Next general elections are going to happen when...
you know (2014)," Naidu told Karan Thapar's Devil Advocate
programme on CNN-IBN.

He was replying to a question on whether BJP would
contest the next general elections under Advani's leadership,
who would be 87 years old in 2014.

He agreed it sounded logical that in such a scenario
BJP would need a new leader and for this the change of guard
would have to take place couple of years before the polls.

Asked who would be the next leader, Naidu said,
"Political parties discuss issues and then come to conclusions
according to the need of the hour and by consensus".

The Rajya Sabha MP said Advani had been chosen as the
Leader of Opposition by BJP for the 15th Lok Sabha and it
was for him to decide when to step down.

"Whenever he (Advani) wants to make way for others, it
is his choice.Nobody has given him any deadline....," Naidu
said.

Naidu justified the continuation of Advani as head of
the BJP Parliamentary Party, though the latter was "reluctant
to accept" and had to be "persuaded".

"When you lose an election that to for the second time,
there will be certain amount of demoralisation, so we wanted
him (Advani) to guide....The process of leadership change is a
normal process...when he wants to choose a new leader, it will
be announced by Advani," Naidu said.

On the recent controversy created by Advani's statement
that he did not want expulsion of Jaswant Singh, Naidu said,
"Initially, yes, he was opposed to expulsion.... He said in
place of expulsion can we think of any other alternative."

However, Naidu maintained the final decision was
unanimous. "Jaswant Singh's book contains many objectionable
references," he said, adding that everybody in the meeting
agreed action had to be taken and Advani, being a "democratic
person" agreed.

Naidu said the decision to expel Jaswant Singh was a
"painful decision" as he had been with the party for 25-30
years but there was no other way.

The veteran leader said Advani had not "suffered any
image loss at all" in the last few months which have witnessed
several controversies within the BJP.

On Arun Shourie's recent outburst against Advani and
party president Rajnath Singh, Naidu hinted action may be
taken after the forthcoming assembly polls while he was
confident Vasundhara Raje would abide by party decision. PTI
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