NEW DELHI: Taking its cue from the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party has formed a "core" committee, which will meet as and when required, apart from the regular sessions of general secretaries and other office-bearers. Ever since Jana Krishnamurthi relinquished office as president and M. Venkaiah Naidu replaced him during the Vajpayee Government, the former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had been attending every meeting, even if it was an office-bearers' session and he was not an office-bearer.

Even after he quit the post of BJP president early this year — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh insisted on his resignation following the controversy over his `Jinnah is secular' stance — Mr. Advani continued to attend the meetings presided over by the new chief Rajnath Singh.

But on Monday, when Mr. Singh chaired a meeting here, officially described as a "pure" session of general secretaries, Mr. Advani was not present. Henceforth, meetings of the expanded group, including the president, general secretaries, the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Advani, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh, and deputy leaders in Parliament V.K. Malhotra and Sushma Swaraj, will be designated as "core" group meetings, reporters were told.

Significantly, the change has come about just three weeks after a two-day meeting of top party leaders with those of the RSS at Mr. Vajpayee's house here. The question being asked in the party circles is whether this signals the end of Mr. Advani's dominance.

Stir against price rise

Monday's meeting discussed the agenda for the upcoming office-bearers' session, which is expected to finalise the party's continuous programme of agitation against price rise. "We have to concretise agitation plans for the next three months," said spokesman Prakash Javadekar.

"Communal" objection

The party criticised as "communal" and "against communal harmony and peace" the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board's opposition to the proposed security arrangements in the Ayodhya complex. Wherever there was a perception of threat to a place of worship, it should be addressed, Mr. Javadekar said. "It is the duty of the Government to secure the [makeshift] Ram temple following the terrorist attack on it."

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