New Delhi, May 25: Trust an 85-year-old to give the BJP’s next-generation leaders, particularly Narendra Modi, sleepless nights.

L.K. Advani, who was instrumental in denying Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) favourite Nitin Gadkari a second term as party president, is learnt to be lobbying hard to get him a key post, leaving many in the party flummoxed.

Sources said the veteran wants Gadkari to be made head of the party’s state election panel to oversee the year-end polls in four key states — Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi.

They said Advani’s real target could be Modi, who has been eyeing the post of chairman of the party’s campaign committee for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

“If the party wins three out of the four states, Gadkari could emerge as a strong contender to head the 2014 national election campaign,” a BJP leader said. “Modi would not like that.”

Advani’s reported lobbying for Gadkari — not a Modi backer like him — has come at a time the NDA is divided over projecting the Gujarat chief minister as the coalition’s mascot for 2014.

Lok Sabha Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj had recently said Advani, too, was a contender for the role amid indications that the veteran himself was not averse to being projected as the BJP’s prime ministerial face, although the RSS wants him to step back gracefully.

Party insiders said Advani could be aiming to hit two birds with one stone: by indirectly putting road blocks in Modi’s path and earning the Sangh’s goodwill as Gadkari is known to be an RSS favourite.

That Advani wasn’t ready to fade away became evident when he recently blamed the Karnataka defeat on party leaders who had backed B.S. Yeddyurappa, the BJP’s former southern strongman who was forced to quit as chief minister following allegations of involvement in a scam.

The sources said the coming elections in the four states were like a semi-final before the parliamentary elections and the results would go a long way in shaping the atmosphere for the final show. Modi, eager to emerge as the party’s 2014 spearhead, would want to shine ahead of the finals, they said.

Advani is learnt to be unhappy with the new team of office bearers appointed by party chief Rajnath Singh, particularly Modi aide Amit Shah who has been given charge of Uttar Pradesh.

Sources said leaders close to Advani feel that if Shah — who they say hardly has any exposure outside Gujarat — can be put in charge of the key heartland state, Gadkari can also be allowed to head the election panel.

Gadkari, the sources said, had been promised a prominent party post to compensate him for not extending his tenure as BJP chief.