Move over Atal, Modi and Advani are the BJP's face

CHANGING FACE: Since the BJP's inception in 1980, this was the first time that Advani headed the meet.

Other stories in the section:

Advani coins poll slogan, puts aside saffron agenda

Advani has asked party workers to aim for the 2009 general elections.

• BJP holds National Exec with eye on Lok Sabha polls
• BJP endorses 33% reservation for women in party
• National Wipes: News from across the country
• Trust vote: Deve Gowda reveals nothing, MDMK split wide

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• Advani coins poll slogan, puts aside saffron agenda
• BJP holds National Exec with eye on Lok Sabha polls
• BJP endorses 33% reservation for women in party
• National Wipes: News from across the country
• Trust vote: Deve Gowda reveals nothing, MDMK split wide

Keywords: Rajnath Singh, L K Advani

New Delhi:The BJP's three-day long national executive meet began in Delhi on Sunday, with L K Advani formally at the helm.

In a fair indication of how the BJP is resolving its crucial leadership issue, the national executive ratified L K Advani being the undisputed numero uno.

Since the BJP's inception in 1980, this was the first time that a national executive meet was being held with Advani formally at the helm. Interestingly, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is not attending the meeting.

However, the meet on Sunday was witness to yet another sign that the fastest rising star in the BJP firmament is Narendra Modi.

The Gujarat ka Sardar was heralded as the BJP’s sardar and the candid admission came from the man who had earlier dropped Modi from the party's Parliamentary board – Rajnath Singh himself. The BJP President’s words of praise for the Gujarat Chief Minister took away the spotlight from Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani.

“The party president said that the victory in Gujarat is the victory of the BJP's ideology and Modi's work as CM. He assured that the NDA would come back to power under the leadership of Advani just like it did under Vajpayee,” BJP Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told CNN-IBN.

“Advaniji has been endorsed by the NDA and we are hopeful,” he said.

The party's think-tank is strategising on upcoming state elections and the Lok Sabha elections next year. The issue figured prominently in the executive and the party's national council will discuss it over the next two days.

Terrorism is also high on the agenda. The party is looking to stage a frontal attack on what it calls the UPA's soft policies on tackling terror.

The BJP hopes to use Modi across the country to send the message that the UPA has failed to control terrorism across the country, showing the party’s open acknowledgement of Modi as a future leader.