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Old guards Advani, Joshi out of BJP parliamentary board

by IBNS 26 Aug 2014, 12:19 am

New Delhi, Aug 26 (IBNS) In a major rejig in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), patriarchs L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have been dropped from the party's parliamentary board, the highest decision making body, but they were accommodated as mentors in a new body for the seniors fashion as "Margdarshak Mandal" to guide the ruling outfit.

In the new look party under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and new president Amit Shah, a close aide of Modi, old leaders were apparently sidelined.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been included in the board instead along with other leaders like J P Nadda.

While BJP president Amit Shah is the president of the new parliamentary board it also included PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister M Venkiah Naidu, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari,  Ananth Kumar; Thawarchand Gehlot; and Ramlal.
  
The new body of mentors comprised Narendra Modi, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh.

"This body will show us the path," said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain, speaking to media but avoided a direct reply when asked whether this body is more powerful than the parliamentary board.

With the rejig, according to political pundits, the reins of the party will now be with Narendra Modi and his aide Amit Shah, the new president of BJP.