Nitish Kumar to flag off Advani's rath yatra

The absence of Janata Dal (United) from Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's recent three-day fast not only brought out the division within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), it also forced Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari to call Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and persuade him to flag off L K Advani's anti-corruption rath yatra.

A fortnight after Advani almost unilaterally announced he would take up a nationwide yatra in support of good governance and against corruption, the BJP leadership has now decided to flag-off the yatra from Sitabdiara, the birthplace of Jayaprakash Narayan, on October 11.

Senior BJP leaders said since Nitish Kumar had boycotted Modi's three day fast, Gadkari had telephoned him a few days back and convinced him he should flag off the yatra. Interestingly, apart from Nitish Kumar, no other chief ministers of the BJP-NDA alliance would be present at Sitabdiara on October 11.

Nitish Kumar, who doesn't believe in Modi's style of politics, has been successful in convincing BJP leaders not to invite Modi in any of the official functions or election rallies in Bihar. He feels Modi's presence would dent his secular image in the state and upset Muslims, who have also supported Nitish Kumar's government.

“Nitin Gadkari called Nitish Kumar a few days ago and asked him to flag off the yatra. He is the most prominent leader in Bihar. Other chief ministers would also take part in the yatra, when L K Advani would reach those states. We expect the yatra to continue for 35-40 days, with a few breaks due to religious functions,” said a senior BJP leader.

The BJP leadership was upset after Advani had announced the yatra, since not many senior leaders were aware of the plan. The BJP leaders suspected Advani had announced the yatra to send a message that he was the frontrunner for the BJP's candidate for the post of prime minister in the 2014 general elections. However, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh finally intervened to convince Advani to delink his yatra with the process of selecting BJP's prime ministerial candidate.