31 May : L K Advani was on Sunday elected as BJP’s Parliamentary party leader and with its drubbing in the just-concluded elections fresh in his mind said the party was "deeply disappointed" at the outcome which belied its "expectations."In his address to the first meeting of the BJP parliamentary party, Advani said, "We have to find out why our performance was poor in states like Rajasthan, UP, Delhi, Haryana, Uttrakhand and Orissa".
"We also have to find out why we won less than expected number of seats in states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra."Advani said "naturally" BJP is "deeply disappointed" by the outcome of the elections.
"I cannot deny that the expectations in our party as in our support base were much higher than what we have actually achieved. But we accept people’s verdict with humility," he said.
As Advani is the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha, he will be the Leader of Opposition in the lower house.
"After his election as the leader, the parliamentary party has authorised Advaniji to appoint office-bearers including leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha and deputy leader of both the houses. He has also been authorised to appoint chief whips in both the houses," senior party leader Sushma Swaraj told reporters after the meeting.
When asked whether Advani would continue as leader of opposition for the entire term of the Lok Sabha, former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu said that such questions were irrelevant.
To a question on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offering the deputy speaker’s post in the Lok Sabha to the opposition, Naidu said, "Advaniji has just been elected as our leader. He will take up the issue shortly."
Samajwadi Party elected Mulayam Singh and Ramsundar Das became JD(U) parliamentary party leader.
Senior JD (U) leader Ramsundar Das, who defeated former Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan from Hajipur constituency in Bihar, was elected the party’s parliamentary leader in New Delhi today.
Party president Sharad Yadav today announced his name after a two day meeting of newly elected MPs.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was also present in the meeting reiterated demand for special status to Bihar.