New Delhi: A symbiotic relationship between BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and party stalwart L.K. Advani on Saturday led the former to accompany the latter when he filed his nomination papers for the Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency in Gujarat. It is believed that any further deepening of the rift between the two would cost the party dear, apart from affecting the victory margin of the BJP patriarch.
Ahead of filing the papers, both the leaders addressed a public meeting where Mr Modi praised the senior leader for his contribution to building the party and exhorted workers to ensure a “huge” victory margin for Mr Advani.
Mr Advani, for his part, said, “I will not call Narendrabhai my protégé, but I have never seen a more brilliant and efficient events manager than him. And he had brought this event management capacity to governance also. That has made him more suitable for the assignment that the party has given him.”
The BJP stalwart, however, said, “I would not compare, certainly not to Atalji. Atalji was a class by himself. The main ideologue of the party was Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and the person to implement it in governance was Atalji.”
However, latching on to Mr Advani’s one remark, that Mr Modi was an “efficient events manager” AICC spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, “Event managers and crony capitalists can create a facade of well-being all around, but the BJP and
Mr Modi forget that the country is run by leadership, policies and programmes, and not by event managers or crony capitalists.”
Mr Modi himself handed over Mr Advani’s nomination papers to the returning officer at Gandhinagar, a seat Mr Advani was virtually forced to accept over Bhopal, which was said to be his first choice.
