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Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav on Thursday tied himself in knots over his remarks that appeared to favour L K Advani as National Democratic Allaince's prime ministerial candidate for the next general elections.
Yadav, who is also the NDA convenor, had on Thursday morning said the history of the country shows that it is generally the elderly candidates who become Prime Minister of the country and Advani is a senior and experienced person.
As a section of media went viral saying that Yadav favoured Advani as the NDA's prime ministerial candidate, the JD-U president got into damage control and said he meant no such thing.
"Some visual media are showing that I had taken the name of Advani for prime ministership. This is not true. This amounts to interfering in the internal matters of the BJP, which I never do. So far neither the BJP nor the NDA has decided who will be the prime ministerial candidate.
"I have great regards for Advani. He is a senior member of the Lok Sabha but this is something which has to be decided collectively by the alliance. It is not for me alone to decide. Moreover, being the convener of the NDA, I have a certain decorum and dignity to maintain," Yadav said.
The JD-U leader said that what he meant to convey was that unless a politician is the son of some big leader, he is generally not well recognised among the masses before he turns 60-65.
Referring to the talk of "generation change" in political parties, Yadav said, "Flowers, which grow in pots fade fast unlike those growing in the farm. It is the crop that grows in farm, which can feed the hungry and not the plants growing in pots".
The JD-U chief pointed out that Atal Behari Vajpayee and L K Advani were elected to lead the NDA twice.
"But that is a fact of history. It does not mean that any such decision has been taken for the present. Neither the BJP has decided on it nor the NDA," he said.