L K Advani on Tuesday took over as the BJP President exhorting party cadres to "think about the future" of the party.
Taking reins of the main opposition party amidst a grand reception at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi a day after M Venkaiah Naidu quit, he showered praise on his predecessor for his leadership and devotion.
"Party workers should think about the future of the party and see how it can be made bright," Advani, flanked by Naidu and wife Kamla, told reporters.
After taking over as party president for the sixth time, Advani held a meeting of the top office-bearers of the party. The meeting was attended, among others, by Venkaiah Naidu, Jaswant Singh, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, vice-presidents M A Naqvi, Jas Kaur Meena, Arun Jaitley.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Jaitley said that the national council meet would now be held on October 27 instead of October 29. "It would be held at Talkatora stadium. We expect 3000 delegates to participate in the meeting in which the office-bearers of the state units, district and zilla units have also been invited. The new working committee would be announced after the national council, which would ratify the appointment of Advani as the president of the party," Jaitley said.
Asked about the principle of one-man-one-post, Jaitley said that this is applicable only when you are in power. "When you are in government you cannot hold two positions because you cannot justify two separate posts. But when we are in opposition, Advaniji is the leader of the opposition and president of the opposition party. The two posts compliment each other," he said.
