New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (May 3, 2004) sought to distance itself from Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi's remarks on the issue of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's successor, saying there is no number two or three in the party.

"There are no number one, two and three in the party. If there is number one, it is Vajpayee. The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) leadership has unanimously reposed its faith in the leadership of Vajpayee and only he will lead the Government for five years," party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters in New Delhi.

"There is no confusion and there has been no discussion on the issue at any level within the party," he said when asked about Joshi's remarks that there were number one, two and three in the party and the issue of successor to Vajpayee would be decided by the "political conditions and ground realities at that point of time".

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To a question whether it was Joshi's personal view or that of the party, he said, "We don't consider it any view."

He attacked the Congress for raising such issues and said, "After the polls, it is the Congress, which will retire from the country's political scene and we will ensure that the people of this country will forget the party."