Wednesday, January 4 2006 11:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Council is likely to meet here later this month to ratify Rajnath Singh's appointment as the new party president.

Consultations are on with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former party chief L K Advani to decide on a convenient date either before the Republic Day on January 26 or immediately there after, party sources told sources.

After ratification, Singh's term would coincide with that of the present National Council, which expires in February 2007.

However, new National Council after the organisational elections can re-elect Singh for a second term as he would not be completing a full tenure, the sources said.

According to the BJP Constitution, no person can become President for a successive second full term.

Apart from representatives from all Parliamentary Constituencies, the over 600 strong Council includes 40 members nominated by the party chief. Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states and state party presidents and about 150-odd National Executive members also generally take part in National Council meetings as special invitees.

The present National Council has the distinction of electing three presidents in its three-year tenure. They include M Venkaiah Naidu, L K Advani and Rajnath Singh.

The last time the National Council met was in Delhi to begin the party's silver jubilee celebrations in April last year.

Meanwhile, Singh is expected to announce his new team of office bearers and National Executive in the next few days. He is currently holding consultations with senior party leaders in this regard. He is likely to retain most of the members of his predecessor Advani's team except Naidu, Kalyan Singh and Sushma Swaraj, who have expressed their desire to be given other responsibilities.