Advani’s yatra: A bridge too far?
Nature’s fury is making BJP patriarch LK Advani’s core team brainstorm yet again on the route of his anti-corruption rath yatra, as they got information that a bridge on the planned route was washed away by floods in eastern India. Vikas Pathak reports.
Nature’s fury is making BJP patriarch LK Advani’s core team brainstorm yet again on the route of his anti-corruption rath yatra, as they got information that a bridge on the planned route was washed away by floods in eastern India.
The bridge between Ranchi and Dhanbad in Jharkhand was on the yatra’s route.
This happened just two days before the party was planning to announce the schedule. Three days from now, the BJP’s national executive kicks off in Delhi, a day before which BJP state unit presidents and general secretaries will be in Delhi to seal yatra plans, apart from discussing other party matters.
“We are having to rethink plans and are working through the night on alternative routes, and also having to talk to state units all over again. Plans will have to change in the wake of the floods,” said a key Advani aide.
According to the plans, the yatra was to proceed from Sitabdiara in Saran district in Bihar on October 11 to Patna and Gaya, then to Hazaribagh, Ranchi and Dhanbad in Jharkhand, and move to West Bengal from there. Afterwards, it was to go to Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
Nature, however, is not alone in playing spoilsport for the veteran yatri.
The yatra that was to begin from Gujarat initially encountered a less-than-enthusiastic chief minister Narendra Modi and reservations from the Bihar BJP unit too, which was unhappy that the original plan would see it enter Bihar during Chhath festival celebrations.
Officially, the party is maintaining that there is strong enthusiasm for the yatra and that central and state leaders are one on it.