Bhagwat, referring to his recent suggestion that a younger leadership take over the reins of the BJP, said in the press conference: 'Fifty to sixty years is the average age for the Sangh leadership and it's for the political party (BJP) to decide what should be the right age for it.'

In what was seen as a reference to the 82-year-old Advani, Bhagwat had said in a recent interview to Times Now television that there was need for a younger leadership to take charge of the party.

Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Brajesh Mishra, who was national security advisor in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, have said that Advani was in the know of the terrorist-hostage swap during the 1999 IC-814 Indian Airlines hijack.

Advani has all along maintained that he was not aware of the decision to free three terrorists, including Maulana Masood Azhar, and swap them for the 160 hostages though he was home minister then.