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New Delhi: Arun Jaitley, the debonair national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has emerged the front runner to become the next president of the party.
Unanimity has almost emerged both within the BJP and the parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh over incumbent president Rajnath Singh's successor.
Although Singh still has 18 month remaining, suggestions are being made that it would be politically prudent to hand over reigns of the party to Jaitley before the next general elections, due in April-May next year.
Jaitley, a former federal minister and leading Supreme Court lawyer, is seen as the lucky mascot. He has emerged as a supreme tactician and is being credited for the BJP's revival after it lost power at the centre in 2004 by ensuring victories of the party in various states.
The just concluded Karnataka elections has in a way settled the old debate over who will succeed veterans Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, the two leaders responsible for BJP's growth over the past 28 years since its inception.
Calibre
Many in the party think that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and Jaitley have the requisite calibre to replace the ageing duo. While an ailing Vajpayee is leading a semi-retired life and may not even contest the next general elections, for all practical purposes Advani may also enter in to the electoral fray for the last time next year.
Advani, being projected as the opposition's prime ministerial candidate, is already 80. If he succeeds, Advani would become the oldest prime minister of the country.
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