It was celebration time at 30 Prithviraj Road here, where the brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party gathered on Tuesday to praise and greet veteran leader L.K. Advani on his 84{+t}{+h} birthday.
There were several Chief Ministers — Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh and Arjun Munda of Jharkhand — and senior leaders Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, while some others, including BJP president Nitin Gadkari, wished him and left before the start of the event.
The former president, Rajnath Singh, touched upon the subject of the party's prime ministerial candidate. He said: “It pains me when I read in newspapers that Advaniji wants this position. A person of his stature and character would not do that. Even in 2009, it was the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who indicated that if a prime ministerial candidate was to be declared in 2009, it should be Advaniji.” Mr. Advani was the party's “natural choice” for the post, he said.
