Day after 'Emergency' comment, Advani cancels meeting with Kejriwal

Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Friday cancelled his meeting with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, a day after the AAP chief struck a common chord with him over his "repeat of Emergency" comment.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani on Friday cancelled his meeting with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, a day after the AAP chief struck a common chord with him over his "repeat of Emergency" comment.

Advani

PTI reported that Advani's office cited prior engagements as the reason for calling off the meeting. Kejriwal was told the meeting will be rescheduled sometime next week because he will not be in town for the weekend.

The abrupt change in plans led to speculation whether the meeting was cancelled due to displeasure in the BJP. NDTV reported BJP sources of denying any hand in this, though the party was jittery over the development

The Delhi chief minister had requested a meeting after Advani, in an interview to the Indian Express said he could not rule out a repeat of the 1975 Emergency in the country.

Kejriwal, sources said, wanted to discuss with Advani the demand for full statehood to Delhi besides other issues.

But the apparent reason was to find some support from the BJP veteran in his running battle with the Narendra Modi government.

It was revealed in Kejriwal's twitter response to the interview: "Advani ji is correct in saying that emergency can't be ruled out. Is Delhi their first experiment?"

In the interview, Advani had said: "I do not say that the political leadership is not mature. But because of the shortcomings, I don't have the confidence that it (Emergency) cannot happen again."

The comments were immediately seen as a barb at Prime Minister Modi, but the BJP and RSS played it down.

BJP spokesperson MJ Akbar said Advani may have been referring to institutions rather than individuals. RSS leaders too said the senior BJP never intended it as a message to the Prime Minister.

(With agency inputs)