March 23 :     Rahul Bajaj, chairman and managing director of Bajaj Auto, will take over as the new president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) next month. Chamber officials said Bajaj will take over from Rajesh Shah, the current president, at the annual general meeting to be held in Delhi on April 29. They added that the decision to offer the job to Bajaj was taken at a closed-door meeting of past CII presidents yesterday. Vijay Kirloskar, CII?s current vice-president and chief executive of Kirloskar Electric, ought to have taken over from Shah. However, Kirloskar decided not to take up the job because of his ill-health. ?Kirloskar is suffering from acute asthma and is currently abroad for treatment,? the officials said. ?His health has deteriorated and he thought it was not proper for him to take over as president of the chamber.? Bajaj, a strong votary of the so-called swadeshi brigade in industry, was guarded when asked about the development. ?I can?t tell you anything right now. Give me a week?s time; I?ll let you know the correct position.? Sources say the younger members like Anil Ambani, Anand Mahindra and Sanjeev Goenka have indicated their inability to spend much time outside their own business. With other senior members also reluctant to take up the demanding job, the CII?s governing body zeroed in on Bajaj. Bajaj has the onerous responsibility of leading the top-notch business forum into the new millennium at a time when its pre-eminent position has been seriously threatened by a resurgent Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci). This year, Ficci stole a lead over CII by inducting several top-rated corporates like Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, Hindustan Lever and Britannia Industries. Reports say Industrial Development Bank of India is also planning to sign on. The general feeling in industry is that the aggressive combination of Ficci president Sudhir Jalan and secretary-general Amit Mitra has upstaged CII. Tarun Das, CII?s suave director general, has been eager to get an industrialist of Bajaj?s stature to help the industry forum regain its pre-eminent position. This is the first time in the 104 years over which the CII has evolved that a past president is being asked to return to the helm. Bajaj headed the organisation (then called the Association of Indian Engineering Industry) exactly 20 years ago.