Vajpayee backs Advani for PM

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Lucknow, Dec 23, 2006: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee Saturday backed senior leader L.K. Advani as the party's prime ministerial candidate at the next general elections.

Asked at a function here whether he favoured Advani, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Vajpayee nodded.

Asked whether Advani had his 'full blessings', the former prime minister again nodded his head and said: 'Full (blessings)'.

The issue had come on centre stage earlier this month when Advani said in a TV interview that he was the prime minister-in-waiting but he doubted whether Vajpayee would back him.

Advani stated he had backed Vajpayee for the prime minister's job when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had come to power in 1998 but he doubted whether the favour would be returned.

'While I had given his name for prime ministership in the first place, I do not expect him to return that favour to me,' Advani had said.