After an enigmatic silence over L.K. Advani's controversial visit to Pakistan and his laudatory references to Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may Thursday call the trip a "political and diplomatic success".

"It could be a last ditch attempt to placate a hurt Advani," said a party source.

Indications are that the joint meeting of the BJP parliamentary board and central office bearers Thursday will redraft their Wednesday resolution that rejected Advani's resignation as party chief and include in it words of appreciation for his Pakistan visit.

The resolution passed Wednesday included fulsome praise of Advani but skirted the main issue of his comments praising Jinnah as a "secular" leader.

According to sources, Advani was angry and disappointed at his party's hesitation in appreciating his visit to Pakistan, which he termed "extremely successful" and "an unforgettable week in my life".

"The new resolution is expected to appreciate his visit. At the same time, Advani also would be clarifying his stand," a senior BJP leader told IANS.

A section of the party is hoping that Advani would yield to pressure and take back his resignation submitted Tuesday, the day after he returned from Pakistan.

While declining to accept repeated pleas to reconsider his resignation from senior leaders, including former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Advani is  believed to have asked leaders to clarify the BJP's position on his comments on Jinnah.

BJP vice president M. Venkaiah Naidu, however, denied that Advani had made any such demands.

"Some (TV) channels have carried reports that Advani asked us to support his statements on Jinnah and some other media reports said that Advani had asked us to choose between him and the RSS. All these reports are false," Naidu told reporters here.

Advani had during his Pakistan visit said Jinnah was a man who advocated a secular Pakistan and stood for Hindu-Muslim unity. The comments had raised a furore with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh demanding he retract his complimentary references to a man who had been seen in India as the "villain" behind the partitioning of the subcontinent.