Advani to lead BJP in LS; search on for deputy

New Delhi: A meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) newly elected MPs in New Delhi on Sunday elected L K Advani as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha but didn’t decide on his deputy in the House.

"After his election as the leader, the parliamentary party has authorised Advaniji to appoint office-bearers, including Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, and deputy leader of both the Houses. He has also been authorised to appoint chief whips in both the Houses," said senior party leader Sushma Swaraj after the meeting.

Advani will decide on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offering the deputy speaker's post in the Lok Sabha to the Opposition. "Advaniji has just been elected as our leader. He will take up the issue shortly," said former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu.

Party leaders Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu are frontrunners for the post of the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, sources tell PTI.

Jaitley and Naidu have proposed each other’s names for the post. Sources tell PTI Jaitley is eyeing the party president’s post, which will fall vacant in January. BJP president Rajnath Singh has said he is not keen on another term.

Sources tell PTI that Swaraj is tipped to be the Deputy Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and S S Ahluwalia is likely to become the Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha.

IANS reports the BJP MPs also discussed probable names for the deputy leader's post, besides the party's strategy for the first session of the Lok Sabha beginning on Monday though details were not disclosed.

Advani, who spoke to the party’s parliamentary party for the first time after elections, said the BJP must find reasons for its defeat. "We have to find out why our performance was poor in states like Rajasthan, UP, Delhi, Haryana, Uttrakhand and Orissa.

"We also have to find out why we won less than expected number of seats in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra." Advani said BJP is "deeply disappointed" at the election results.

"I cannot deny that the expectations in our party as in our support base were much higher than what we have actually achieved. But we accept people's verdict with humility," he said.

Elected from the Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat for the fourth time in a row, Advani, 81, was leader of opposition in the previous Lok Sabha too. He has been an MP six times.