Delhi: Several top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have reported sick ahead of the crucial national executive meeting starting today in Goa.

The faction headed by senior leader Lal Krishna Advani who is opposed to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s appointment to a key post have decided to skip the two-day conference.

Advani failed to reach Goa capital Panaji on Friday to attend the extended parliamentary board meeting yesterday to finalise Modi’s appointment as the chairman of the central campaign committee which will make him the face of the party in the election year.

Advani is opposed to his once protégé Modi and has been trying to block Modi’s elevation in the party hierarchy.

“Due to Mr Advani’s ill health, I told him not to attend the meet today. He will reach Goa tomorrow,” BJP president Rajnath Singh said in his bid to put a lid on the simmering discontent in the party.

Former minister Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh, Shatrughan Sinha, Uma Bharti, Ravi Shankar Prasad and newly appointed national general secretary Varun Gandhi have decided to skip the Goa conclave, most of them saying they are unwell.

Their opposition to Modi, however, is expected to be ignored and a formal announcement to this effect is expected to be made on Sunday. Chairman of the central campaign committee will make Modi the frontrunner to become BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in next year’s general elections.

BJP’s ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which influences BJP’s decisions, is learnt to have approved of Modi’s appointment to the post. Senior RSS leader Suresh Soni met Rajnath Singh on Thursday. Sources in BJP say Soni conveyed to Singh that Modi is their choice to be projected as the prime ministerial candidate.

Advani has last week praised Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and termed him better than Modi. Chouhan, however, chose to opt out of the race by terming Modi his senior. This did not stop Advani from making another attempt by suggesting the formation of two campaign committees for parliamentary and state elections, which too failed to get approval from the party.

Modi himself arrived in Goa yesterday afternoon flashing a V sign, making no bones that he has emerged victorious over his detractors.

Incidentally the turning point in Modi’s career had come 11 years ago at Goa. BJP’s national executive had met in Goa in June 2002, just a few months after the communal riots in Gujarat. The then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the then deputy prime minister Advani had travelled together to Goa but did not speak. Vajpayee wanted Modi sacked as the chief minister but Advani prevailed to save his protégé. Modi made good use of the reprieve to become known for good governance and all round development of Gujarat. He is now seen as the most popular leader of BJP with mass following across the country.

“Modi’s public appeal is similar to what Vajpayee had,” Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar said, adding that the Goa conclave will be crucial in setting up a roadmap towards winning the upcoming general elections. “Indians are waiting for BJP-led NDA’s return to power at the centre to deliver the good governance this country so badly desires and deserves,” Parrikar said.

BJP will debate and pass two resolutions in its national executive meeting. According to party spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi, the first resolution will be on national security and national pride and the other on corruption.