Sunday, December 25 2005 14:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Widely tipped to succeed L K Advani as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, party general secretary Rajnath Singh today (Dec 25, 2005) said that no decision has been taken in the matter so far.

"No decision has been taken with regard to the party presidentship. Advani continues to be our party president and the process of choosing his successor would begin only after he demits office," Singh told sources.

"There is a due procedure for electing the party president and it will be followed in this case too," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said.

He also said that he had met both Advani and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to appraise them about the progress in the 'Nyaya Yatra' programme of UP BJP in protest against the killing of party MLA Krishnanand Rai.

However, highly placed sources in BJP and RSS confirmed that Singh has been chosen to succeed Advani but the party does not want the focus to be diverted from its Silver Jubilee celebrations in Mumbai beginning tomorrow (Dec 26, 2005).

Senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi was among the BJP leaders who congratulated him on his selection as the next party chief but both Advani and party vice president M Venkaiah Naidu claimed that no decision has been taken in this regard.