Rajnath pitches for Advani

Singh’s comment  in support of Advani came in the backdrop of the senior leader  launching his “Jan Chetna Yatra”, apparently  nixing  claims of other party leaders for the top post.

Advani has himself never stated that he was giving the prime ministerial post a last try but his high profile  cross-country “yatra” has  left not many in his party in doubt that the patriarch was giving the hot seat a last shot.

Advani had taken a  day’s break from his “Yatra” to celebrate his birthday in the national capital.

“He is a natural choice for the prime minister post...,” said Singh, who along with a hoard of BJP leaders, including Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley and chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, came to wish Advani at his residence. The senior BJP leader turned emotional even as Singh described him  “ a natural choice” of the party for the top post.

At right time
Singh sought to put an end to the controversy through his statement which was in contradiction to party president Nitin Gadkari’s recent comment that a decision on the issue would be taken at the right time.

“When I read in the papers about Advani being in the reckoning for PM post, I feel pained. Will a person of Advani’s stature ever present his claim for Prime Ministership?.... He is a natural choice for the Prime Minister post. It is painful to see these reports in the media,”  the former BJP president  said placing Advani in the front vis-à-vis other competitors in the party like Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Gadkari.

Singh, who was effusive in his praise for Advani, has not  yet thrown his hat in the ring for the prime ministerial post.

Advani  was felicitated by his party colleagues at his residence at a function that also witnessed the release of a Hindi book on him: “Shri Advani-Vyakti aur Vichar”.
During the day Gadkari also felicitated Advani at his residence.

Emotional
Advani’s eyes turned moist time and again as he went down the memory lanes and recalled his days in Karachi, Pakistan, where he was born in 1927 and  spent his childhood.