Advani rath yatra likely from Oct 11

Senior BJP leader L K Advani intends to kickstart his rath yatra from Karamsad,the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani intends to kickstart his rath yatra from Karamsad,the birthplace of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,in Gujarats Anand district which is sure to invoke memories of him being portrayed as a Loh Purush in the mould of Patel at one time. The cross-country tour on a make-shift chariot is likely to begin on October 11.

The date is significant as it is the birthday of Jaiprakash Narayan who ousted Indira Gandhi from power in the 1970s. For the BJP,invoking JP would be symbolic for some sections of the party feel the possibility of mid-term polls next year cant be ruled out. As it is,the anti-graft yatra is bound to bring back the focus on Advani and any link,even remotely,with Patel would also rekindle the strong leader theory. The BJPs strong vs weak PM plank in the last Lok Sabha polls had backfired.

Sources said that according to the preliminary plan,the yatra would culminate in Delhi on November 20 after traveling through several states including poll-bound UP,Uttarakhand and Punjab. Party sources insisted the plan was tentative. They pointed out that Somnath from where Advani had begun his Ram Rathyatra to Ayodhya could also be a possible starting point.

Both the BJP core group and its office-bearers met on Sunday to deliberate about the yatra. The party wants to put its might behind the yatra hoping it would energise its cadre and project it was battle-ready. The idea was to capitalise on the sentiment against corruption in the country. Leaders in charge of states have been asked to oversee management of the yatra in their respective states and general secretary Anant Kumar has been made the overall convenor.

But behind the show of unity,however,is a feeling among top leaders that the yatra announcement has only complicated the leadership question. It is learnt that Gadkari and some other leaders wanted the yatra to spend more days in UP,Uttarakhand and Punjab,but Advani was not keen to link his yatra to Assembly polls.

Nevertheless,the yatra is likely to spend four days in UP and two in Uttarakhand. The first four days would be in Gujarat. Sources said Advani would also go to Andaman and Nicobar islands,Northeast and Jamp;K. He would take breaks during Diwali and to celebrate his birthday on November 8.