Senior leader L.K. Advani of India's Bharatiya Janata Party resigned on Monday, just one day after the controversial promotion of ill-received party member Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to the chief of the party's election campaign of 2014.
The promotion happened over a three-day BJP gathering in Goa, which Advani failed to attend, citing health reasons.
"It was for the first time in more than four-decade-long political career that Mr. Advani had given the national executive of the party a miss, apparently in a bid to express his displeasure over elevation of Mr. Modi," reported The Hindu.
The 85-year-old party veteran resigned via letter after attending a meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee of Home Affairs, and reportedly did not contribute one word to the proceedings.
In the letter Advani stated that over the years, the party has slowly got away from its original mission, and now perpetuates only the personal agendas of its members.
"All my life I have found working for the Jana Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party a matter of great pride and endless satisfaction," Advani wrote. "For some time I have been finding it difficult to reconcile either with the current functioning of the party, or the direction in which it is going. I no longer have the feeling that this is the same idealistic party... Most leaders of ours are now concerned just with their personal agendas."
BJP president Rajnath Singh later went to Advani's home to speak to him but failed to conciliate a resolution.
According to BBC News, supporters of Advani believe he resigned because he felt mistreated when the party moved Modi into a higher position, indicating that the move is a precursor to naming him as the party's new leader and prime ministerial candidate for 2014.
The BJP is one of the most impactful members of the Sangh Parivar, and was founded on Hindutva, a belief focusing on nationalism and not religious or theocratic concepts.
