Even as veteran BJP leader LK Advani (85) remains defiant and refuses to back Narendra Modi, the party will go ahead and announce the Gujarat CM as its Prime Ministerial candidate. After hectic late night parleys, BJP President Rajnath Singh decided to convene the Parliamentary Board meeting at 5 PM today for the official announcement.

Many BJP leaders, including Venkiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkar, Rajnath Singh, Shahnawaz Hussain and Ananth Kumar met Advani to convince him to accept Modi as the PM candidate. However, the BJP patriarch did not relent. According to sources, Murli Manohar Joshi agreed to the party decision, while Sushma Swaraj was also convinced.

The RSS, which is pushing hard for ‘Modi as PM’, has given the go ahead to Rajnath Singh to convene the Parliamentary Board meet today to announce the decision. Rajnath wants to outsmart the Congress by announcing BJP’s PM candidate before Congress officially proceeds with Rahul Gandhi. It is almost certain that Modi will be coronated today whether Advani supports him or not.