FILE photo of senior BJP leaders MM Joshi (left) and LK Advani (AFP)
In the board since it was first constituted, they have now been handed the title of marg-darshak or mentors.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister and the party's gold standard for leadership, now ailing for many years, has also been removed from the board and has been named marg darshak, in what signals the end of an era in the BJP.
The parliamentary board is the BJP's highest-decision making body made up of 12 top leaders, headed by Amit Shah. Among the new members on the board is Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
Ironically, when Mr Modi was first inducted into the board early last year, Mr Advani had attempted to push for the induction of Mr Chauhan too.
All through last year the veteran leader attempted to stall the meteoric rise in the party of Mr Modi, once his political protege, but failed at every step.
By the time Mr Modi was named the party's candidate for Prime Minister, it was clear that Mr Advani's stock in the BJP had fallen in direct proportion to the rise of Mr Modi's.
But it has been after the national elections in May, in which Mr Modi scripted for the BJP its finest hour, that Mr Advani has been truly diminished. Seen as a founding father of the BJP, Mr Advani was denied the post he wanted - that of Speaker - and even went through the ignominy of having his nameplate removed from outside his room in Parliament, though it was later restored.
In his new role, he is unlikely to have decision making powers; it is a title that the BJP's ideological mentor the RSS has tried to press upon him for years and Mr Advani has resisted.
Asked what the new group of mentors would do, party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain, "They will show the way." He stressed its relevance in party affairs by pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh too are part of the mentor group.
Mr Modi and Mr Singh of course are also part of the parliamentary board.
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