First time in 40 years, L.K. Advani gives state a miss

Bengaluru: It was the one-man army of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi that has covered more than half the parliamentary constituencies at a time when patriarch L. K. Advani and senior leader Sushma Swaraj chose to delete Karnataka from their itinerary during the high-decibel campaign which ended on Tuesday.

Save for two visits—one by party president Rajnath Singh and the other by senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu, it was Mr. Modi who criss-crossed the state to address 15 rallies in various constituencies.

None of the other central leaders visited the state to drum up support for BJP candidates in 28 Lok Sabha seats. In fact, Mr. Advani and Mrs. Sushma Swaraj set a record because they did not address an election rally anywhere in Karnataka for the first time in three decades.

They skipped Karnataka because other central leaders admitted former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and former minister B Sriramulu despite stiff resistance from the duo, sources in the state unit of BJP told Deccan Chronicle.

The sources said though a tentative tour programme was fixed for Mr. Advani and Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, both leaders cancelled their tour saying they are busy campaigning in northern states. By keeping away from the state, they saved themselves the embarrassment of facing the media on the issue of re-entry of Mr. Yeddyurappa and Mr. Sriramulu.

BJP national general secretary H N Ananth Kumar, however, maintained that both leaders were busy addressing rallies in northern states.