Rajnath regrets not making Advani PM - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The outgoing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajnath Singh has regretted that he could not succeed in making senior leader L K Advani th ecountry’s Prime Minister. In an interview to a private news channel a day after relinquishing the party’s top job, Singh said : “We had projected Advaniji as our Prime Ministerial candidate. Had we attained a good strength in the Lok Sabha, Advaniji would have definitely been the Prime Minister.” “Yes, we totally regret, as the results of the Lok Sabha elections were not as per our expectations,” he added. Singh who led the BJP to a miserable defeat in 2009 general elections quit party presidentship on Saturday. He also claimed that the party was in good shape and ruled out speculations of a rift between him and some senior leaders saying "There is no camps in the party." Commenting on the party's affairs, Singh said : "Atalji and Advaniji have been two of the most able leaders of our party. Atalji is a little unhealthy as of now, but as soon as he recovers, he will perform his role.” “As far as Advaniji is concerned, he is still active in politics and will be in the future,” he added. Commenting on intra - party's functioning, Singh said, "The line of command rests only in the hands of the party president, which is Nitin Gadkari. It's true that if the authority of the party president is challenged, there is bound to be a crisis.” “But, this has not happened in the BJP and I am confident that this won't happen with Nitin Gadkari either,” he added.