Murli Manohar Joshi, LK Advani stay off festivities as Amit Shah gets re-elected

NEW DELHI: Even as Amit Shah was elected president of the BJP unopposed on Sunday, veterans including Murli Manohar Joshi, LK Advani and Yashwant Sinha stayed away from the festivities at party headquarters. Joshi told ET that he did not get any information or invitation from the party, so there was no question of his going. Advani, on the other hand, is believed to have got an invitation but chose to stay away.

Sources close to Advani said the senior leader decided to stay away since he thought Shah’s election was a mere formality and there was no point being a party to it. Joshi said though he was a member of the National Council, which forms a part of the electoral college to elect the president, he did not get any intimation from the party. This is the first time in history of the party that he had no information.

Yashwant Sinha, when contacted by ET, said he was in Hazaribagh, and not in the National Capital. He was not sure if the party had sent him an invitation.

The veterans, who had been boxed into the undefined ‘Margdarshak’ role, made no secret about their displeasure at the way the party has been functioning under the leadership of Shah. Joshi, Advani, Sinha and Shanta Kumar had raised a banner of revolt following the poor showing of the party in Bihar polls.