Advani, Modi come together for Ahmedabad civic body function

BJP patriarch L K Advani and party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi were today seen together at a civic body function here, after a bitter episode when the former opposed elevation of Modi.

Earlier in the day, both of them were present during the meeting of Somnath Temple Trust, along with trust president Keshubhai Patel.

Both the leaders came together to inaugurate gardens built by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) along the Sabarmati river under the Riverfront Development Project.

The event assumes significance, as Advani, the 85-year-old MP from Gandhinagar constituency, was seen at a major public function along with Modi in Gujarat after 2011.

Though Advani and Modi had appeared on a public platform in Bhopal on September 25, along with a pantheon of BJP leaders for the first time after the anointment of the Gujarat Chief Minister as party's prime ministerial candidate, there the ties between the two leaders were far from being warm.

However, in contrast today both of them appeared more relaxed when they came together for the AMC function.

Opposing the elevation of Modi, his one-time protege, as BJP's election campaign committee chief, Advani had resigned from all party posts in June this year, though he later withdrew it.

He had also not attended the party's Parliamentary Board meeting last month which decided to declare Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.

Earlier in the day, both Advani and Modi attended the meeting of Somnath Temple Trust along with trust president Keshubhai Patel.

Patel, a former chief minister of Gujarat, had left BJP and formed his own Gujarat Parivartan Party.

They discussed in detail about improving the tourist facility at the famous Shiva Temple of Somnath, sources said.