E-Paper
Advani all set to campaign for himself in Gandhinagar
After criss-crossing through country to canvass for his BJP, Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani will Thursday begin campaigning for himself in his Gujarat constituency, Gandhinagar.
After criss-crossing through the country to canvass for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani will Thursday begin campaigning for himself in his Gujarat constituency, Gandhinagar.
Advani is contesting from the Gujarat capital for the fourth time but has only now found time to campaign after his India Shining campaign culminated Wednesday at Puri, Orissa.
He will address three public meetings Friday, while BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley will also address one rally on the outskirts of the city Friday evening.
During his Bharat Uday yatra, Advani covered a total of 7,872 km in 33 days -- 4,125 km in the first leg of the tour from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu to Amritsar in Punjab and 3,747 km in the second leg between Porbandar in Gujarat and Puri in Orissa.
And while he was travelling through the length and breadth of the country, his wife Kamala Advani, son Jayant and daughter-in-law Geetika were lobbying for votes on his behalf.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, too, has campaigned extensively in the Gandhinagar constituency.
Advani had taken a break after the first phase of the tour to file his nomination papers from Gandhinagar last month.
He is seen as a sure winner from the constituency, having won from here in 1991, 1998 and 1999, with comfortable winning margins running into six digits.
While confident party officials said the deputy prime minister need not even have visited Gandhinagar to win, the opposition Congress' chances seem to have been further weakened by their choice of candidate.
The party dithered for a long time over whom to nominate and finally gave the ticket to Gabhaji Thakor, a former state minister who had defected from the BJP recently.
Advani had earlier said that he would be able to spend some time in the constituency only after the Bharat Uday yatra came to an end.
