Advani is BJP's foremost ideologue, says Rajnath Singh

Senior BJP leader LK Advani, who recently found himself isolated in the party over  Narendra Modi’s elevation, was today hailed by party President Rajnath Singh as the “foremost ideologue”.

Singh along with another party leader M Venkaiah Naidu showered praise on Advani at a function to observe 61st death anniversary of party founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee here. Advani was the main speaker at the event.

“If there is any foremost ideologue of the party, it is Advaniji,” the BJP chief said while speaking about the patriarch’s association with Mookerjee.

Naidu, former BJP president, while speaking on the occasion, described Advani as the “tallest leader” of BJP.

The comments assume significance as Advani recently found himself isolated in the party after he opposed appointment of Modi as the Election Campaign Committee chief on June 9.

To register his protest, Advani resigned on June 10 from all the key party posts, despite which Rajnath Singh made it clear that there will be no going back on the decision to elevate Modi.

Advani, however, withdrew his resignation a day after putting in his papers after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat intervened.

At the function, Advani became emotional and his eyes welled up with tears when he recounted Mookerjee’s arrest in Kashmir in 1953 and his subsequent death there.

Advani recalled that he came to know about Mookerjee’s death on hearing cries of a man well past midnight.