LK Advani has his way, BJP lets him decide his seat for Lok Sabha elections

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to leave the decision on choice of seat for party veteran LK Advani to the man himself.

"I have spoken to all the party leaders. I have consulted the Parliamentary Board and the CEC members as well. We have decided that the final decision on the choice of seat for Advani be left to the leader himself," BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.

Rajnath's statement comes amidst reports that Advani is unwilling to contest from Gandhinagar in Gujarat and instead wants to fight from Bhopal.

"Advani is free to choose to contest from wherever he wants," Rajnath said.

BJP leaders have been striving to put up a calm facade in the midst of the storm. Party leader Venkaiah Naidu scoffed at a CNN-IBN reporter, "There is no crisis. Who told you Advani is not keen on contesting from Gandhinagar? Has Advani said anything negative so far? We have discussed it," he said.

The BJP on Wednesday nominated Advani from Gandhinagar seat despite his unwillingness to contest from there.

Sources say that Advani is adamant on contesting from Madhya Pradesh and has reportedly even told his party that he be given the chance to select a seat of his choice, just as other top party leaders like Rajnath, Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi have been given the permission.