New Delhi: At last, the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership today bit the bullet by declaring Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for the next year's crucial Lok Sabha elections.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani, who had been stalling the anointment of Modi for the last one week, abstained from the BJP parliamentary board meeting, despite being present in the capital.
Other members of BJP parliamentary board attended the meeting, with Modi chosing to stay in Gujarat Bhavan as the meeting began.
Half an hour before the meeting, party chief Rajnath Singh telephoned RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to communicate that Advani was the only leader who has opposed Modi's anointment.
Hectic parleys went on between senior leaders to convince L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi to give up their opposition to the decision.
While Joshi is said to have been won over, last minute efforts were on to bring around Advani and Swaraj.
