M A I N   N E W S

Krishnamurthi is new BJP chief
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 24
A beleaugered BJP leadership today decided to ratified the appointment of a seasoned senior leader from Tamil Nadu, Mr K. Jana Krishnamurthi, as the party President.

Mr Krishnamurthi, who was tipped to become the BJP President, last year, was upstaged by the Prime Minister , who had then handpicked a relatively junior leader from the party, Mr Bangaru Laxman, as the BJP President with an argument that the party needs to send a positive signal to the Dalit community.

But wheels of fortune took a favourable turn early this month when Mr Laxman had to resign in the wake of tehelka.com expose.

Delivering his first presidential address, Mr Krishnamurthi could not hide his feelings when he observed today that “it is said that life is unpredictable. It is much more so in politics. By a strange twist of circumstances the smooth sailing ship of ours has been visited by a storm and I find myself to be entrusted with the responsibility of captaining the ship out of storm and steer it safely to the port”.

Mr Krishnamurthi, an advocate- turned-politician, belongs to the old guard of the party having served it from the Jan Sangh days. He was a pracharak in the RSS earlier.

Before confirmation today, he was appointed acting President of the party on March 13 as he was the senior- most Vice-President in charge of organisational matters in the team of Mr Laxman. He was also the chief spokesman of the party.

Even while he was the acting President of the party, a section in the BJP tried to put a spoke in Mr Krishnamurthi’s confirmation with an argument that the party needs a young and dynamic leader to lead the party aggressively in the wake of tehelka.com controversy.

Mr Krishnamurthi, hailing from Madurai district in Tamil Nadu, was instrumental and responsible for a tactical alliance with the AIADMK in 1998 and then switch over to the DMK in 1999.

Earlier, as the Vice-President also he has served as the in charge of Karnatka, where the BJP made deep inroads in the last two elections, both in the Lok Sabha and in the Assembly. Unlike many RSS pracharaks, he is married.