BJP keeps Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi out of Bihar campaigning

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi will not campaign in Bihar during the upcoming Assembly elections as the BJP has kept him out of the list of its campaigners against the backdrop of reservations expressed by ally JD(U).

The list of 40 star campaigners of BJP was submitted by the party to the Election Commission yesterday as per the requirement, sources said in New Delhi today.

The list includes senior national leaders LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, MM Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ananth Kumar, the sources said.

Senior party leaders from Bihar including Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Ravi Shanker Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Shahnawaz Hussain and C P Thakur also figure in the list of BJP campaigners for the six-phase polls beginning on October 21.

However, Narendra Modi has been left out, apparently in view of reservations expressed by ally JD(U) against his campaigning in the state.

JD(U), which runs the government with BJP support, has been conveying to the ally that Narendra Modi should not campaign in Bihar as it would hurt the electoral prospects of the coalition because of the taint of Gujarat riots on him.

The decision to keep Narendra Modi away from Bihar campaigning comes despite demands from within BJP that he should visit the state to garner votes for the party.

The BJP is expected to launch its campaign from October 9 or 10.