The top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party sought to project L K Advani as the party's prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha elections, at the party's national executive in Bhopal on Friday.

Just prior to the inaugural function, senior BJP leader Ram Naik told reporters that Advani remained the 'logical choice' as the party's prime ministerial candidate.

Incidentally, former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee could not attend the national meet due to his ailing health.

Another senior leader Jaswant Singh said that Advani was the natural choice for prime ministership as the former deputy prime minister has worked alongside Vajpayee for over five decades. The party will continue to work according to Vajpayee's guidance, he added.

Former BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu was vocal in projecting Advani, saying the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha was the natural claimant for prime ministership.

However, former party chief Bangaru Laxman maintained that Vajpayee continued to be the claimant for the top post.

But party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that leadership issue was not on the agenda during the three-day conclave, which would devote more time to crucial matters like national security and the Ramsethu issue.

Former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and party leader from Uttar Pradesh Kalraj Mishra kept away from the issue with the former suggesting that the media was out to create a controversy and "we are not going to oblige".

Advani, who came to the meeting with party chief Rajnath Singh, did not reply to any of the queries