New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS): Rajnath Singh was Wednesday unanimously elected the new president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), succeeding Nitin Gadkari who decided against a second term till he was cleared of alleged corruption charges.

Rajnath Singh will serve his term from 2013 to 2015, and lead the party in the 2014 general elections.

A resolution supporting Rajnath Singh as the BJP chief was unanimously adopted by the parliamentary board of the party, after which he filed his nomination papers.

The returning officer announced that 17 other nominations were also filed in Rajnath Singh's favour.

Rajnath Singh has previously been the president of the party from 2005 to 2009. He first became the party president in December 2005, following the resignation of L.K. Advani.

He was re-elected in November 2006 unanimously and was succeeded by Nitin Gadkari in 2009.

He also served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from October 2000 to March 2002.

Rajnath Singh's name was zeroed upon for the post of party president Tuesday evening, following Income Tax 'surveys' of around nine locations connected to alleged financial wrongdoing by a company linked to Gadkari.

According to informed sources, several senior leaders, including BJP veteran L.K. Advani, had reservations on Gadkari getting a second term in view of allegations surrounding the Purti group linked to him.

'Political conspiracy'

Greeting Rajnath Singh on his appointment as the new president of Bharatiya Janata Party, his predecessor Nitin Gadkari alleged a "political conspiracy" was behind his decision to opt against a second term.

"I congratulate him (Rajnath Singh). I have worked under his leadership... He has the ability to make us win the 2014 election under his leadership," Gadkari said in a speech here.

"As far as the election for a second term is concerned, there had been attempts through a political conspiracy to link me to an issue I was not related to," Gadkari said, referring to the allegations of corruption against him.

Corruption charges levelled against Gadkari include those of improper business dealings as the chairman of the Purti Group and land grab. He has, however, denied all the charges, adding that he is not linked to the Purti Group.

On Tuesday, the income tax department carried out on-field investigations at nine locations in Mumbai that belonged to the alleged shell companies related to the Purti Group. The group, however, said the companies on which the raids were carried out did not belong to it.

"Yesterday, there was a similar attempt and I felt they were trying to malign my party using me," Gadkari said.

He said he wanted to place the interests of his party before him, therefore, he decided not to seek another term.

"I felt the party should come first. The economic situation is bad; inflation is high; foreign exchange reserve is empty; and foreign investment is not coming. In such a situation, if the people look for an alternate, they believe the BJP has the capacity to change the situation," he said.