With L.K Advani's resignation plunging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into its worst ever crisis, Murli Manohar Joshi, a staunch loyalist of party ideologue Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has begun flexing his muscles as he eyes the top post.

Joshi, the BJP president 1991-93, has long attempted a comeback but has been stymied by the moderates and Advani-supporters. He now appears to sense a now-or-never opportunity.

Though he kept quiet for the first two days over the controversy created by Advani's remarks in Pakistan and took pains to meet the miffed leader on the day he put in his papers, Joshi hit out at Advani Thursday.

The BJP's ideology, Joshi thundered, could not be compromised and anyone who disagreed with this risked treading a lonely path.

Advani praised Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah as a man who advocated a secular Pakistan and maintained that partition was an unalterable reality.

Once considered among the top trio of BJP leaders with Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Joshi, according to those close against him, has always nursed a grudge against Advani for preventing him from coming into his own.

According to insiders, Joshi is among the hardliners who feel that Advani hijacked the "hard work and struggle of other leaders in projecting Hindu causes" to make it his own.

But then, this could be the very reason the moderates swear they would never accept Joshi as their leader.

Joshi-supporters pointed out that former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh's name was floated by a section of BJP leaders as a possible successor to Advani "only to scuttle Joshi's chances".

"Some leaders do not want Joshi to have any say in the party. They proposed Jaswant Singh's name to diminish his chances," a BJP leader told IANS.

An RSS activist throughout his life, who was deeply influenced by its second chief M.S. Golwalker, as also Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, a former chief of BJP's predecessor Jan Sangh, Joshi has always been a controversial man.

Unlike Advani, Joshi never apologised for the 1992 demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya. As the human resource development minister in Vajpayee's cabinet, he was hated by the liberal intelligentsia for his attempts to "saffronise" the school curriculum.

The 71-year-old suave and soft-spoken leader, who always appears in public with a prominent vermilion mark on his forehead and a richly bordered shawl, has always tried to be different.

When most BJP leaders put on a liberal face for the sake of coalition politics and power, he remained a hardliner.

Popularly known as "doctor saab" in his home constituency Allahabad, Joshi's educational background - a doctorate in physics - has also perhaps kept him distinct from other party leaders.

"He has always been proud to be identified with the RSS, unlike others in the BJP," noted a party leader.

Ironically then, Joshi does not fall in the category of young leaders who should take over the BJP that RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan had advocated a few weeks ago.

Thus, the days ahead for Joshi will be in the manner of a wait-and-watch situation.