Vajpayee, Advani, Joshi will be part of Marg Darshan Mandal: BJP

New Delhi: After reports were out that the BJP made big changes in its parliamentary board's leadership while dropping names of party patriarchs Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, the party's national spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain on Tuesday clarified that the party veterans will be part of Marg Darshan Mandal.

The party has created a body named 'Marg Darshak Mandal' (guiding group), which also includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

“For the first time Marg Darshak Mandal has been formed and it has been given a status of a permanent body,” Hussain was quoted as saying by the reporters.

However, he dodged the question that which one would be the final decision making body between the parliamentary board and Marg Darshak Mandal.

The 12 members of the BJP parliamentary board are Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jailtey, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Venkaiah Naidu, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Thawarchand Gehlotm, Ananth Kumar, JP Nadda and Ramlal.

Moreover, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, under whose leadership the party registered its third consecutive victory in the state, has been rewarded with a membership in the party's parliamentary board. BJP national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP JP Nadda has also been included in the party's highest decision-making body.

Earlier, both Advani and Joshi were denied Cabinet berths in the Modi Cabinet.

BJP under the leadership of Modi won 282 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 General Elections.