Advani's yatra to cover 23 States, 4 Union Territories

Will not travel to Somnath in Gujarat and Ayodhya in U.P.

The ‘Jan Chetna Yatra' of BJP leader L.K. Advani, beginning on October 11, will cover 23 States and four Union Territories in a span of 38 days.

The yatra will involve travel by road as well as by air, a party release said.

It was originally scheduled to be flagged off by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at Sitab Diara, the birth place of Jayaprakash Narayan, in Bihar. Due to waterlogging caused by floods the venue has been shifted to Chhapra.

Party general secretary Ananth Kumar, who is the main convener of the programme, told a news conference here on Wednesday that the yatra would be carried out with the participation of the people and austerity. Mr. Kumar said that it would be difficult to give an estimate on expenditure.

Mr. Advani will skip two crucial destinations — Somnath in Gujarat and Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. Asked why Mr. Advani was not travelling to Ayodhya, Mr. Kumar said that after the Allahabad High Court verdict the party stand had been vindicated.

The senior BJP leader would be spending only five days in Uttar Pradesh where Assembly elections are due early next year. On Mr. Advani's itinerary in U.P., Mr. Kumar said that two senior party leaders Rajnath Singh and Kalraj Mishra would travel the length and breadth of the State through two separate yatras. The yatras would begin simultaneously with Mr. Advani's programme.

The yatra would cover nearly 7,600 km and criss-cross nearly 100 districts across the country. Among the places he is visiting are Nagpur, where the RSS headquarters is located, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Lilabari and Guwahati in Assam, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu, parts of States such as Orissa, Kerala, Karnataka, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Earlier, there were speculations that Mr. Advani would skip Gujarat due to reservations expressed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Kumar said Mr. Advani would spend two days in Gujarat.

Asked if Mr. Modi would receive Mr. Advani when the yatra enters Gujarat, Mr. Kumar said, “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.”

Though the stated purpose of the yatra is to create awareness among people about corruption, it was perceived within and outside the BJP as a political statement by Mr. Advani that he was very much in the reckoning for the post of Prime Minister as and when the general elections are held.