New Delhi, Jan 22: Rajnath Singh has been picked as the new president of the main opposition party the BJP which will continue the tradition of electing its leader unopposed.
 Till this evening, current president Nitin Gadkari appeared unwilling to relinquish his claim an unprecedented second consecutive term, but a surging income tax investigation failed his chances.
 Singh has served as president earlier;  his new term has been endorsed by the BJP's ideological mentor the RSS, which till recently refused to back anyone but Mr Gadkari, who it had handpicked for the party's top job in 2009.
 At a function in Maharashtra earlier this evening, Mr Gadkari shared the stage with LK Advani. The two hardly spoke - unsurprising given that Mr Advani has been the loudest voice in the campaign to have Gadkari replaced.
 Gadkari's detractors Advani and Yashwant Sinha have been arguing that installing Gadkari in office once again  will dent party's credibility in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
 This evening Gadkari dismissed the IT investigation centered around the Purti Group which he founded in 2000 as an orchestration by the government to malign him.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 IST