The rift in BJP was today wide open with L K Advani quitting from all the party posts, apparently opposing the elevation of his one-time protege Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as election campaign committee chief.
85-year-old Advani, a founder member of the BJP and considered the party patriarch after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, resigned from all main fora of the party -- Parliamentary Board, National Executive and Election Committee.
In his resignation letter to party President Rajnath Singh, who announced the appointment of Modi as Chairman of the election campaign committee yesterday in the BJP National Executive, he rued that the BJP was no longer the "same idealistic party" created by Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Deendayal Upadhyaya, Nanaji Deshmukh and Vajpayee.
"For some time I have been finding it difficult to reconcile either with the current functioning of the party, or the direction in which it is going," he said.
"Most leaders of ours are now concerned just with their personal agendas," Advani said in his one-page resignation.
Advani had skipped the three-day deliberations of the party in Goa over the weekend citing health reasons. This was the first time Advani had stayed away from the National Executive and the office bearers' meeting prior to it.
