Who will sit next to Advani?

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For many of us in school, it was all about sitting next to our friends or best friend in class. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders it seems haven't outgrown that stage.

It's not such an innocent thing for BJP leaders in Parliament. They just want to sit next to the boss, Lal Krishna Advani.

First he failed to make it to the ruling benches in the Lok Sabha, and then his juniors fighting to take over his place in the party. And now L K Advani has a new headache - the BJP's GenNext leaders desperate to succeed him - are now fighting for the right seat in Parliament.

In the Lok Sabha, the left side is where the top Opposition leaders are seated. Protocol reserves the first seat for the Deputy Speaker of the House and 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 Advani.

Sushma Swaraj is a strong contender being BJP's deputy leader in the House. She quotes Vijay Kumar Malhotra's case, saying that 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, now elected to the Lower House, is playing the seniority card to sit next to Advani.

The catch is - if post Advani, Sushma becomes Leader of Opposition, what will her seniors do?

So for the last two days, a musical-chair is on between various BJP leaders. 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.

Tags: Elections

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