Asserting that it was party president's prerogative, the BJP Thursday said the decision to drop Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the Parliamentary Board and Arun Jaitley as spokesman was taken after Rajnath Singh held consultations with senior leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani.

"It is the prerogative of the party president to appoint the national executive and office-bearers, but he (Singh) held wide consultations with the seniors (Vajpayee and Advani) and colleagues before constituting the team," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.

His observations came as news reports spoke of Modi, the Hindutva icon, being angry with Singh's decision. Singh, who is believed to have been unhappy with "debriefings" by party leaders, removed Jaitley as the chief spokesman while retaining him as general secretary in the new set-up.

Modi was dropped from the BJP's parliamentary board, the party's highest decision-making body. In his comments to the Lucknow executive last month, Singh told his colleagues that restrain should be exercised while speaking to the media.

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