With tea, DPM says cheers to his partymen

Senior party leaders who had campaigned in the run-up to the elections — Murli Manohar Joshi, I.D. Swami, Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Shahnawaz Hussain and Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda — were all there.

And rubbing shoulders with them were star campaigners — Smriti (Tulsi) Malhotra Irani and new Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini — who stole the limelight. Dara Singh, the other new RS member, was also there.

The mood was definitely self-congratulatory. The only leader who did not look too upbeat but tried his best to put up a brave front was Madan Lal Khurana, the party’s unsuccessful chief ministerial candidate for Delhi. So, while the second-generation leadership got all the kudos from Advani, he did not forget to add consolation for the old guard.

When asked about the prospects of Delhi leaders like Khurana and V.K. Malhotra, Advani said the party will need them for the Lok Sabha elections next year. ‘‘I don’t think that elections will be earlier than scheduled, but in politics one can never be too sure,’’ he said. Advani is looking forward to attending the swearing-in in all three states where the BJP won.

‘‘Earlier, I had thought I would not be able to make it. But now that he is returning on the 7th (of December), I will be going to all the three states,’’ Advani said. That is his way of saying thank you.