New Delhi: It seems that clash between two senior leaders of BJP may take a new turn now. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders LK Advani and Narendra Modi on Thursday came face to face at a meeting of the party Parliamentary Board to strategies on the elections for Lok Sabha, in a significant interaction coming less than a month after the patriarch’s revolt of Modi’s elevation.
This time the issue was for the return of Yeddyurappa. BJP’s Karnataka in-charge Thawar Chand Gehlot is also in favour of Yeddyurappa’s return to the party. Modi also has the backing of Yeddyurappa’s supporters. Modi and his camp have been favour re-induction of Yeddyurappa since they feel his party’s (KJP) 10 per cent vote share in Karnataka can swing the BJP’s fortunes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
However, camp of Advani is opposing the return of tainted leaders in BJP. Sources said Advani is strongly opposed to Yeddyurappa’s return and would prefer a loss in the election to a tainted politics. Advani feels Yeddyurappa’s return would hurt its plank on corruption and that he wants to rebuild the party’s Karnataka unit with fresh faces, sources said. This is not the first face-off between Modi and Advani. The two locked horns over Sanjay Joshi’s removal, then over the venue for Advani’s Jan Swabhiman Yatra and the most recent one was the face-off over Modi’s elevation to the top the post of BJP’s poll panel chief.
However, after the Lokayukta report on illegal mining indicted Yeddyurappa, a spate of corruption and land de-notification cases were filed against him. Yeddyurappa had resigned as Karnataka chief minister in July 2011 after the Lokayukta report. Yeddyurappa also quit the BJP in December 2012 and floated his Karnataka Janatha Paksha (KJP).
Meanwhile BJP swept away by the anti-incumbency as the Congress secured 121 seats in assembly election earlier this year.
Bureau Report
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