'BJP will select its leader, not an individual'

FOLLOW THE LEADER: Former HRD Minister Joshi says the BJP encourages young leaders.

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Television, for politicians with a vision

Featured Slideshows

Related Headlines

powered by

• Varun Gandhi the rising son in BJP?
• Time 15 yrs, costs Rs 700 lakh: Liberhan yet to report
• 15 yrs on, Ayodhya panel in no mood to fix blame

Keywords: Prime Minister , LK Advani

New Delhi: The question of who is the BJP’s top leader—one who can be portrayed as its Prime Ministerial candidate—is still troubling the party.

L K Advani has indicated that he is interested in leading the party but there seems to be no consensus on the issue. Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN’s Chief Political Correspondent Bhupendra Chaubey, on Wednesday said the BJP will decide who its leader is and no individual can make a claim on his own. Excerpts from the interview:

Bhupendra Chaubey: If L K Advani says he is the real leader would that be acceptable to you? Is that question still open or not?

MM Joshi: Well, you see the leadership in the BJP is collective. Even in the time of Atal Behari Vajpayee there was collective leadership.

Bhupendra Chaubey: So it is not a settled question? It is not as if Advani can say he is the leader.

MM Joshi: Nobody says in the party that he is the leader. It’s the party which accepts an individual as a leader—in the BJP’s tradition nobody says I am the leader. The party decides who the leader is by taking into consideration ground realities. The fact that I was once the party president doesn’t mean that I am in the line of leadership.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Has the time come for the party to find a leader? You have said Vajpayee is the BJP’s greatest margdarshak (guide) and he is assisted by Advani. Should then now Advani be the guide everybody must look up to?

MM Joshi: Well Advanji has been guiding the party for a long time, nobody has said that he should not guide us. Guidance is always welcome.

Bhupendra Chaubey: The BJP says it is always ready to encourage a second-rung of leaders. What is the future of a young leader in the BJP?

MM Joshi: There is a great future for young leaders. We have a young party president; all the general secretaries are young and most of our state party presidents are young. There is enough talent in our party and when Mr Advani made a remark on Jinnah, the young leadership of the party said: “no, this is incorrect”.