Vajpayee bats for Advani as next PM

Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has called upon the partymen to go an extra mile to install senior BJP leader L K Advani as the next Prime Minister of India.

Though Vajpayee could not make it to the three day BJP national executive, which began in Bangalore on Friday, due to ill-health, the former Prime Minister sent a message containing an appeal to his partymen to make Advani the next Prime Minister.

“My appeal to you is strive whole-heartedly and ensure that Advaniji becomes the Prime Minister after the next parliamentary elections”, Vajpayee said in the message.

The veteran BJP leader’s message was addressed to party President Rajnath Singh, who read it out during the meeting. The contents of the message were also revealed to the reporters later by BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad.

“I am sure that the national executive meet will dwell on all issues confronting the country and take appropriate decisions”, Vajpayee said before adding that it was a matter of pride that the national executive was meeting in a state, where the BJP’s dream of having its own Government has become a reality.

“The choice of Bangalore as the venue after the party’s victory is significant. The Karnataka victory should repeat more decisively in all the other six states going to polls shortly”, the former Prime Minister added in his message.