The time has not come to quit, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said in New Delhi on Thursday.

He was asked about his comments in Lucknow that without Lal Kishenchand Advani's nod, he would not have occupied the top slot and his earlier remarks that under his deputy's leadership the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to move forward.

He was also asked whether the time had come for the party leadership to be handed over to Advani and if there were apprehensions that the National Democratic Alliance would not accept Advani's leadership.

"We will discuss (this) issue later," was all that the 79-year old Vajpayee had to say when he was reminded of his own statement made decades ago where he was critical of the then ageing prime minister Charan Singh and called for the leadership to be handed over to the younger generation.