Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Tuesday welcomed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief K S Sudershan's recent suggestion that he and Bharatiya Janata Party chief Lal Kishenchand Advani must make way for younger leaders in the party.
Vajpayee said he anyway does not do much work in the party now. As far as Advani is concerned, he said, "it is up to Advaniji to decide."
Vajpayee was talking to journalists after a BJP Parliamentary Party meeting in New Delhi.
This was the former prime minister's first direct reaction to the RSS chief's attack on him and his family in a recent TV interview.
To a question on the second line of leadership in the party, Vajpayee said: "It is ready at any time to take over."
On Sudershan's charge that he did nothing on the Ayodhya issue when he was prime minister, Vajpayee said: "It is his opinion. Everybody has the right to form an opinion."
Earlier report:
Vajpayee, Advani should make way for new leaders -- Sudarshan
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