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Leader of the Opposition Lal Krishna Advani has climbed one more step in fulfilling his ambition of becoming the Prime Minister when National Democratic Alliance endorsed his candidature. Earlier, the BJP had announced its intention to fight the next Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of the former Deputy Prime Minister. The NDA decision disproves fears in certain circles that the endorsement of his candidature would not be a smooth affair.

With health preventing Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee from playing an active role in politics, BJP leaders did not have much of a choice when they opted for Mr. Advani.

On his part, Mr. Advani also played his cards well by persuading his party to announce that he would be the prime ministerial, candidate just before the results in Gujarat were announced. It was a clever move to ward off any possible threat from Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

It was Mr. Advani’s calculated attempt to make himself more ’secular’ and thereby more endearing to the NDA allies that he made that statement about Mohammed Ali Jinnah while on a visit to Pakistan. He seems to have managed to win back the confidence of those sections of the Sangh Parivar who were upset with him on the Jinnah issue. Even so, he has a long way to go before achieving his ambition. It is true that the string of assembly elections in the recent past have been favourable to the BJP. But before the next general elections are due, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan - ruled by the BJP - will go to the polls.

Rajasthan - ruled by the BJP - will go to the polls.

By-election results from these states do not suggest that the voters are happy with these governments. Equally important, the BJP continues to be in bad shape in Uttar Pradesh which accounts for the largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha.

The NDA is no longer as cohesive and large as it used to be when Mr. Vajpayee was its leader. Of course, its decision on Mr. Advani provides clarity to the political situation. This will force the Congress to announce its own candidate for the post of prime minister. Last time it contested the elections without any such candidate. It was Mrs. Sonia Gandhi who nominated Dr. Manmohan Singh for the post. It remains to be seen whether the party would like to fight the elections under Dr Manmohan Singh’s leadership or not. From the experience in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, the Congress would have realised that not having an identifiable leader in an election is a disadvantage.