Wednesday, November 16 2005 15:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President L K Advani categorically declared that he would demit office next month, BJP senior vice president M Venkaiah Naidu today (Nov 16, 2005) met senior RSS leaders and is understood to have discussed leadership change in the organisation.

Naidu, who is considered to be among the major contenders for the top post, met RSS general secretary Mohan Bhagwat and its joint general secretary, in charge of BJP affairs, Suresh Soni at Sangh headquarters at Jhandewala here. He, however, did not meet RSS chief K S Sudarshan, who was also present at the headquarters.

However, emerging from the meeting, Naidu claimed that the issue of leadership did not figure at his meeting with the Sangh leaders.

"The Sangh has no system of interfering in the election of BJP president. RSS does not fix the calendar for BJP election," he told sources.

Naidu, who was the BJP chief prior to Advnai, said that since he had to attend a marriage in Visakhapatnam, he could not attend a scheduled RSS-BJP meeting later in the day to discuss the Kashmir issue.

Party general secretary (oganisation) Sanjay Joshi and party vice president Bal Apte, who is also considered a front runner for the top post, are scheduled to meet the RSS top brass later in the day.

Naidu's meeting with the RSS top brass assumes significance as it comes ahead of a possible meeting between Sudarshan and Advani in the next couple of days.

Sudarshan, the RSS chief, is in the capital for such a long duration for the first time after Advani announced his plans to step down at the party's national executive in Chennai in September.