Rath in key areas,flight elsewhere

The reason cited by the party,which unveiled the route map on Wednesday,was the need to coordinate the movements of the Isuzu bus that has been modified into Advanis rath.

Mirroring the general footprints of the BJP,senior leader LK Advanis Jan Chetna Yatra will cover the maximum roadmiles in the Hindi-speaking belt of Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Haryana while making token appearances in West Bengal and the southernmost states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The reason cited by the party,which unveiled the route map on Wednesday,was the need to coordinate the movements of the Isuzu bus that has been modified into Advanis rath. It seemed obvious,however,that the party saw no immediate advantage in expending energy on tiring road travel in states like West Bengal,Tamil Nadu,Kerala and Assam where Assembly elections have already been held. In fact,the rath will skip the East West Bengal as well as the Northeast with Advani flying to Itanagar,Guwahati and Kolkata and Port Blair.

The yatra will substantially cover Telangana,where its support for statehood for the region is certain to go down well. It will pay some attention to Orissa,where the party has a votebase,while moving on to Chattisgarh,where it is in power.

The third leg will cover Karnataka,Maharashtra and Gujarat where the BJP traditionally has done well. The final phase will cover the northern states of Punjab,Rajasthan,Himachal Pradesh and Jammu. He will spend 14 days in UP,Uttarakhand,Punjab,Goa and Gujarat put together.

Unveiling the route,BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar,the main convener for the programme,also sought to end speculation on differences within the top leadership over the yatra,especially between Advani and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.

All BJP chief ministers will receive the yatra when it enters their respective states and will accompany it as long as it is in their state, he told reporters. The route map also made it clear that Advani would skip both Ayodhya and Somnath,the two places that had been the key to the success of his Ram Rath Yatra. Advanijis yatra for clean politics and good governance spanning over 38 days will pass through 23 states and four Union territories and cover 7,600 km, Kumar said. He insisted it is not a political programme.

Kumar sidestepped questions on expenditure,saying state units would individually bear the cost of arrangements. This yatra will be carried out with the participation of the people and with austerity. There cannot be a comprehensive budget for this yatra. Local units of the party will contribute.

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Asked why Advani is spending only five days in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh,Kumar said the state will see yatras by former party president Rajnath Singh and senior leader Kalraj Mishra simultaneously with this programme.

The yatra will be flagged off by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Jayprakash Narayans birth anniversary October 11.