Advani calls on Vajpayee to seek his blessings

New Delhi, Dec 11 (UNI) A day after the BJP named him as its prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha polls, Leader of Opposition L K Advani today called on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his residence to seek his blessings for taking on the new responsibility.

Accompanied by BJP president Rajnath Singh, Mr Advani spent about-minutes with the BJP veteran who is also the Chairman of the National Democratic Alliance.

Mr Advani did not speak to the media after the meeting but Mr Singh said that Mr Advani had expressed his desire to meet Mr Vajpayee when he called him to congratulate after the BJP Parliamentary Board took an unanimous decision that Mr Advani would lead the party in the next Parliamentary polls.

Mr Vajpayee has blessed Mr Advani and congratulated him on the party's decision.

Mr Vajpayee who had been leading the party in the Lok Sabha polls had expressed his desire to come back to the party in his message to Bhopal National Executive leading to speculations that he still wanted to play an active role in BJP's affairs. But yesterday, he expressed his inability to take on this role due to health reasons and desired that Mr Advani, his long time associate in several polls be given this responsibility.

Meanwhile NDA convenor and Janata Dal (United) leader George Fernandes had called on Mr Advani to congratulate him on his new role. Several NDA allies including Chief Ministers of Orissa, Punjab and the BJP ruled states also met Mr Advani to express their happiness over his elevation.

UNI