The leadership and policy squabble that has enveloped India's Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since it unexpectedly lost a general election 19 months ago shows no signs of abating. Efforts at the party's 25th anniversary conference at the end of December to replace its two elderly top leaders with people in their mid-50s failed to eliminate any of the contenders. Instead, the list of rivals grew longer. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the 81-year old former prime minister and the country's favourite BJP politician, announced that he would not stand again in a parliamentary election.
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