Party will decide PM candidate: Advani

On the eve of his Jan Chetna Yatra against corruption,L K Advani preferred not to rule himself out of the prime ministerial race

On the eve of his Jan Chetna Yatra against corruption,L K Advani on Monday preferred not to rule himself out of the prime ministerial race thereby keeping intact the veil of mystery over his future plans.

The BJP veteran signalled that during his cross-country tour he would not just highlight corruption,which was stated as the main theme of the yatra earlier,but would also focus on black money and matters like judicial and electoral reforms. He also spoke about lack of leadership in UPA II,hinting at reviving the campaign against weak Prime Minister that he had mounted in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2009.

Talking to reporters about his yatra to be flagged off by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday,Advani kept everyone guessing and skirted questions about the prime ministerial nominee saying the BJP would decide its PM candidate at the time of elections and suggesting there were no dearth of leaders in the party.

Who will become the prime minister will be decided by the party when the elections come. This decision is not being taken now. There are three years to go for the election. It is another matter that this government is working in a manner that it appears it may fall anytime, Advani,flanked by Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj,said.

Although his decision to embark on a yatra had revived the leadership debate,he never chose to clear the air. The closest he came to suggesting that he might not be in the race was after his meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat last month. People feel whether they have to bear this government for three more years8230; The fact is that the decision as to who will be the leader will be taken by the party. We do not have dearth of leaders, Advani said on Monday.

Advani said he had a telephonic conversation with Narendra Modi some days ago and the latter had assured him that he would join the Gujarat leg of his yatra. The Gujarat Chief Minister was apparently miffed with the leadership over the rehabilitation of Sanjay Joshi he had skipped the BJPs national executive session and was not enthused by Advanis yatra which initially was to start from Gujarat.

About the issues that he would focus on,Advani said black money would top the agenda along with corruption. He had words of praise for the civil society crediting them with creating awareness about corruption and black money.