Lal Kishenchand Advani, who resigned as the president of Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday, said BJP faced difficulties and these were not due to the shortcomings of the party or the ideology but due to the 'behaviour and conduct of some of our own colleagues'.
While the IQ of some leaders were very high, their EQ (emotional quotient) was very low and the difficulties arose because of them, he added.
He said MQ (moral quotient) and SQ (spiritual quotient) were equally important.
Maintaining that he was satisfied with the outcome of the conference, Advani said, "I do not judge the outcome solely by the headlines but by its intrinsic strength."
Rajnath Singh, the new president, will formally take over as party president on January 2 at the party's Ashoka Road headquarters at 0930 IST.
Besides Advani, senior party leaders will be present on the occasion.
After garlanding and offering sweets to Singh, the ex-president expressed confidence that under his (Singh's) leadership, the party will touch new heights.
Describing Singh as a dedicated worker, Advani said he had displayed his administrative abilities as a minister in Uttar Pradesh, as chief minister of the state and also as a minister in the National Democratic Alliance government.
"He is a popular leader and under his leadership, the party will grow by leaps and bounds," he said. Advani said he had sent his resignation to senior vice president M Venkaiah Naidu, which has been accepted.
Advani said Rajnath Singh's tenure will be till February 2007, but the party's national council could re-elect him as party chief for another three years.
Charging the United Progressive Alliance government with taking the threat of terrorism lightly, Advani said the attack on the Indian Institute of Science was not a small issue.
The gravity of the incident should not be judged by the number of casualties, he said.
Advani said that the terrorists had made it known that their target was anything that signifies India's success.
He said Bangalore, being the IT hub, was a success story of the country and hence a target of terrorists.
He also charged the Congress with doing nothing to check the increasing threat of terrorism.
"They refuse to see what is happening... there is no coherent policy to combat terror," he said, adding, "What can you expect from a government which scrapped POTA."
Taking credit for the extradition of underworld don Abu Salem, Advani said it was made possible due to the determined efforts of the NDA government.
"It were the determined efforts of the NDA government that led to the extradition of Abu Salem," he said.
Advani also demanded to know what efforts the UPA government was making to extradite Dawood Ibrahim, the key accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.
"I have a question for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. What efforts is the government making to extradite Dawood Ibrahim?" he said.
He said the concerted efforts of the NDA government also resulted in Dawood Ibrahim being named as an international terrorist by the United States.
Asked about his critical remarks against RSS at the Chennai national executive, Advani said he had not made any reference to a meeting or discussion.
"I had stated that an impression has been created that the BJP cannot take any decision without the endorsement of the RSS and this needs to be removed. In the last three months, attempts have been made by both sides to remove it," he said.
Asked whether he will continue to take part in day-to-day affairs of the party, he said it will be the prerogative of the president to decide.
On whether he will be the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate in the run-up to the next general elections, he said, "It will depend on what the party wants me to do. Even when I was not the party president and the leader of the opposition, I was one of the faces projected by the party".
He launched a scathing attack on the CPI-M in West Bengal saying if democracy was to be strengthened in the country, you cannot have a situation that exists in the state where 'they have managed to subvert and totally replace the bureaucracy with the party'.
On Vajpayee's remarks that Advani was Ram and Pramod Mahajan Lakshman, he said Mahajan was sitting next to him and 'I don't think anything more needs to be read into this'.
In his brief address, Rajnath Singh said that in 1905, Bal Gangadhar Tilak had given the clarion call of Swaraj being the birthright and a century later, the party will take Advani's call for 'Suraj' (good governance), 'Suchita' (probity) and 'Suraksha' (security) as the 'mantra' in its onward march".
While Vajpayee and Advani's inspiration will continue to be the 'motivating force' for the party, the co-operation of its workers will be the 'driving force', he declared.
He said the party began its journey on an ideological path and he will take it forward on that path.
Advani said at the silver jubilee convention, the party recalled its journey of 25 years, made an assessment of the goal traversed so far and envisioned the goals yet to be
reached.
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