Madras HC won’t come in way of Advani yatra, dismisses PIL

The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a petition from a city advocate seeking a direction to restrain Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani from proceeding with his Bharat Uday Yatra from March 10 from Kanyakumari on the ground that it will whip up communal tension in the state. Dismissing the PIL, a division bench took note of Advocate General N.R. Chandran’s submissions that all precautionary steps would be taken to ensure a peaceful yatra.

In Thiruvananthapuram, the Indian Union Muslim League on Friday said the Yatra would ‘‘create communal divide and hurt’’ the letter and spirit of the model code of conduct and called upon Dy PM L.K. Advani to cancel it. ‘‘Whenever Advani undertook yatras in the past they did not leave any message of goodwill. They had only sowed seeds of distress and discord,’’ IUML general secretary E. Ahmed said. — (PTI)