Advani to give rally a miss

But will campaign later for six days in the State

Bharatiya Janata Party veteran leader L.K. Advani is not attending the party’s rally being organised in Bangalore on April 8 to mark the culmination of its Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra.

Disclosing this at a press conference in Bangalore on Saturday, BJP State president Prahlad Joshi said Mr. Advani had communicated that he was not in a position to attend the rally as he is otherwise occupied. However, he has said that he will dedicate six days for campaigning in the State in the coming days, Mr. Joshi said.

Other Central leaders of the BJP, such as the national president Rajnath Singh and Leaders of the Opposition in both the Houses, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, national general secretaries Dharmendra Pradhan and Ananth Kumar, and BJP national vice-president D.V. Sadananda Gowda will attend the rally that will mark the launch of the party’s poll campaign, he said.

Interestingly, Mr. Joshi did not reveal details on the arrangements being made for the rally, including the number of participants expected, perhaps in the wake of the strict vigil being maintained by the Election Commission.