Both reiterate bonhomie during Yatra welcome ceremonies, show warmth and togetherness.
It took a journey together from Vapi to Ahmedabad for a thaw in the hitherto frigid ties between veteran BJP leader LK Advani and his once favourite disciple
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. By the time they reached Ahmedabad on Monday, the duo were exuding the old bonhomie.
Modi had, earlier in the day, clarified that there was no rift between him and Advani. This was visible on Monday evening during a public rally at Pratap Chowk, Ghatlodiya as BJP’s state unit president RC Faldu was not seen seated between the two stalwarts.
Interestingly, when Advani’s Jan Chetana Yatra entered Ahmedabad from Anand through CTM crossraods, Modi was missing in the ‘Rath’. People were surprised by the CM’s absence, as CTM falls under his own Maninagar assembly constituency.
However, sensing the people’s curiosity, Advani himself said that Modi had to attend an important meeting. Sources in BJP indicated that the CM left the yatra from Karamsad. However, Modi was once again seen with Advani in his rath, when the yatra crossed Kids City in the Kankaria area.
Members of parliament from Ahmedabad (East) and Ahmedabad (West) constituency Harin Pathak and Dr Kirti Solanki respectively welcomed Advani at CTM. Advani was accompanied by senior BJP leaders, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ananth Kumar, Muralidhar Raoji and his wife and daughter.
As November 8 is LK Advani's 85th birthday, he flied to New Delhi in a private plane at 11:15 pm from Ahmedabad. Sources in the BJP informed that he would be celebrating his birthday at his resident in New Delhi and will join the yatra once again on November 9 in Jaipur. It is significant that Advani preferred to celebrate his birthday not in his constituency that is Gandhinagar, but in New Delhi.
It seemed that common people, commuting on BRTS, were annoyed with the long traffic jams occurred because of the yatra, as they had to wait almost an hour in their buses. All the traffic junctions on the route of the yatra heading towards Ghatlodia were jammed and apart from BJP's party worker, no commuter was pleased with the chaos.
At a traffic jam at Manek Bag traffic junction, an annoyed couple on the two-wheeler said, "They don't know what kind of traffic problem they are creating and how the costly fuel is burnt in such jams. Ultimately, we have to suffer from all these."
In Ghatlodia, it was jam-packed audience of more than 15,000 people but as it has been seen in earlier public meetings, where Modi and Advani were together, many people started leaving the place soon after Modi's speech was over.
Modi targeted Congress-led UPA government on the twin issue of corruption and black money. He said, "All the public movements against the corruption in the country, led by different leaders and parties at different times, were against the Congress' government at the Centre."
Advani almost repeated what he had been speaking through out his tour of the state in last three days.
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