BJP Denies Veteran LK Advani Wasn't Invited for Foundation Day Celebrations

The BJP celebrated its 35th foundation day at its party headquarters in Delhi today - but key founding member LK Advani was not invited to the event, said sources close to the veteran leader.

No message - not even a text - was sent to the 87-year-old, said the sources, who did not wish to be named, for the event in Delhi which was led by BJP chief Amit Shah and included top ministers and party's leaders.

The BJP, however, refutes this charge. A party source told NDTV that senior leader Anil Jain called Mr Advani's residence and passed on an invite for the celebration with details about timing to an old staff member. A senior BJP leader added that at the just concluded BJP national executive in Bengaluru, an announcement was made about the date time and venue of the meet. Mr Advani, the source said, was present when the announcement was made.

This weekend, Mr Advani refused the BJP president's request to address an important annual conclave held in Bengaluru. His speech at the conference has been a party tradition for 35 years.

Mr Advani tried unsuccessfully to persuade his party against picking Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate ahead of last year's national election. Barely two months after the national election, he was removed, along with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Murli Manohar Joshi, from the BJP's top decision-making group, its parliamentary board. The veterans were transferred to what was derided by the opposition as a "retirement home" - the Margdarshak Mandal, a panel meant to provide guidance and mentoring.

The committee has not met once since it was announced; its members have been excluded from important decisions like allying with the PDP to form the government in Jammu and Kashmir, or choosing Kiran Bedi as the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for the Delhi election, which the party went on to lose.