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Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani committed a faux pas at the Bharatiya Janata Party's national council meet in New Delhi on Saturday when he forgot to acknowledge the full contribution of the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the party's growth.
In the session before lunch, while proposing the draft called the Delhi Pledge, which seeks to present the BJP's vision for India's future, Advani narrated the ideological history of the Jan Sangh and the BJP in the last 51 years.
He said, "Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Pandit Dindayal Upadhyaya and Jaiprakash Narayan have greatly influenced party's thinking and after 1996 Vajpayeeji has been leading us."
After lunch, he told partymen: "Some people have drawn my attention to the fact that in 1980 Atalji became the president of the party and since then he is leading us. In my speech, I missed this part (shayad ye kahna rah gaya tha). Since 1980 he has been the most influential leader of the party."
In his long narration of the party's ideological shifts and trends he didn't mention his own contribution.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan gave Advani his due when he said, "Advaniji did not mention his contribution to the party because of modesty. Advani's rathyatras too contributed to the party's success."
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