Narendra Modi skips campaigning for BJP in Punjab, Uttarakhand

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has stayed away conspicuously from campaigning for his party in the poll-bound Uttarakhand and Punjab.

Assembly elections will be held in both the states on January 30, and the campaigning ended yesterday. Modi did not visit the two states during this period.

Modi, dubbed by some in BJP as prime ministerial material, was supposed to be one of the main campaigners in the five states where the assembly polls would be held.

But his absence in Punjab and Uttarakhand, the two states where BJP is in power, has led to speculation about whether he would hit the campaign trail in the all-important Uttar Pradesh.

His bete noire and former BJP General Secretary Sanjay Joshi is one of the key leaders involved in the party's UP campaign.

Modi had stayed away from the last BJP National Executive reportedly because he was sulking over BJP president Nitin Gadkari's decision to bring back Joshi into the party.

Modi was also said to be unhappy with senior leader L K Advani for kicking off his anti-corruption yatra from Bihar instead of Gujarat.