New Delhi: First he failed to make it to the ruling benches in the Lok Sabha, then his juniors began fighting to take over his place in the party. And now L K Advani has a new headache: The BJP's GenNext leaders are desperate to succeed him. They are now fighting for the right seat in Parliament.
In the Lok Sabha the top Opposition leaders are seated on the left side. Protocol reserves the first seat for the Deputy Speaker of the House. The second for the Leader of Opposition. Now a tussle is on between Sushma Swaraj, Jaswant Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh on who will sit next to L K Advani.
Sushma Swaraj is a strong contender. After all she is BJP's deputy leader in the House. She is quoting Vijay Kumar Malhotra's case. He as deputy leader used to sit at Advani's side in the 14th Lok Sabha. But Jaswant Singh -- who was Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and now elected to the Lower House -- is playing the seniority card to sit next to Advani. The catch is: if post- Advani, Sushma becomes the Leader of Opposition, what will her seniors do.
So for the last two days a musical chairs is on between various BJP leaders. One day Rajnath was next to Advani, the other Rajnath Singh and Sushma was forced to sit far from Advani.
The party will have to resolve the issue. But then some in BJP quip. Till Advani settles the succession war in his home, the battle in the Lower House will not end.