NEW DELHI: Veteran Indian politician and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani on Friday stepped down as leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, handling the reins to party leader Sushma Swaraj.

Advani is elected Chairman of BJP parliamentary party.

The changes in the BJP have come at a time when the party is beset with several challenges including its decline in Uttar Pradesh where it finished a distant fourth in the last Lok Sabha polls. The defeat in the Lok Sabha polls also led to internal bickering and blame-game in the party.

With youth forming a large section of the India’s population and Congress scion Rahul Gandhi working systematically to bring young voters closer to his party, the BJP has opted to a generational change in its leadership to meet the future political challenges.

Advani, 82, who has scripted the rise of BJP from the mid-eighties, is expected to guide the party in the role of a mentor. He could not realize his ambition of becoming prime minister in the 2009 parliamentary polls.

Born in Karachi, Advani joined RSS in 1942 at the age of 15 and later associated with Bharatiya Jana Sangh (precursor to the BJP).  Advani was information and broadcasting minister in the Janata Party government. He became home minister in the National Democratic Alliance government in 1998 and served as deputy prime minister from 1999 and 2004. He represents Gandhinagar constituency in the Lok Sabha.