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New Delhi, Dec 10: The BJP on Monday formally announced that the Leader of Opposition and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani will lead the party in the next Lok Sabha elections.

"The decision was taken unanimously by the BJP Parliamentary Board after receiving a message from Vajpayee that he would be unable to play an active role due to ill health and Advani should lead the party," BJP president Rajnath Singh announced after a meeting of the party's highest decision-making body earlier on Monday.

Advani, flanked by all senior party leaders including former HRD Minister M M Joshi, was present when Singh made the announcement at a hurriedly called press conference on Monday evening.

In a brief speech, he thanked the party leadership for reposing their trust in him and said that he would do everything in his power to discharge the "onerous responsibilities" that he has been saddled with.

The timing of the announcement surprised political observers as the polling for the first phase of Gurajat Assembly elections will be held on Tuesday.

Though Singh and the galaxy of party leaders present at the press conference refused to take any questions, sources said the decision was taken to remove uncertainty at a time when there were chances of snap Lok Sabha polls.

Singh himself said that the decision was prompted by the fact that the elections for the next Lok Sabha could be held any time in view of the differences between the Left parties and the Congress-led UPA over the India-US nuclear agreement.

Advani's projection as the party's next prime ministerial candidate ends a prolonged period of confusion and debate within the party. The leadership issue dogged BJP ever since Advani was pushed to the sidelines after his controversial remarks about Pakistan founder M A Jinnah's secular credentials.

The remarks had been publicly disapproved by the RSS and a section of BJP’s middle-level leaders and Advani had even offered to resign at one point but was persuaded to continue for some time.

Subsequently, at a meeting of the party's national executive in Chennai in September 2006, Advani had acknowledged strains in the RSS-BJP relationship and announced that he would quit as party president during the party's silver jubilee session in Mumbai in December 2006.

The question about Vajpayee’s successor intensified after the former Prime Minister announced retirement from active politics at a public rally in Mumbai marking the end of the silver jubilee session and Uttar Pradesh Thakur leader Rajnath Singh replaced Advani as a representative of the Generation Next.

Sources said that the party's top brass decided to project Advani as the party's prime ministerial candidate to give further impetus to the BJP’s prospects in the crucial Gujarat Assembly elections that could prove to be a turning point in the post-Vajpayee era.

Since Advani represents the Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat, his projection as the party's undisputed leader will not only remove confusion among the party's rank and file, but also make him a key campaigner.

"This will ensure that the Gujarat elections do not remain merely Modi-centric, but can be projected as part of a larger national campaign for the return of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance to power at the Centre," said a senior party leader.