By IANS,
Nagpur : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Wednesday met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat “to seek blessings” for his proposed nationwide rath yatra on “clean politics and good governance”.
Advani said Bhagwat conveyed his full support to the yatra. He said the RSS chief also informed that the organisation had told its cadres to work for success of the yatra.
The BJP leader said he had also come to Nagpur to inquire after the health of party president Nitin Gadkari, who had undergone weight reduction surgery earlier this month.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Advani said he intended to visit the northeast during his yatra this time.
“It will be throughout the country and we will try to touch all major cities,” he said. “I would like to go to the northeast also.”
The yatra is likely to start Oct 11, the birth anniversary of the late Jayaprakash Narayan, whose mobilisation of students in 1974 and call for Total Revolution culminated in then prime minister Indira Gandhi imposing an unpopular internal emergency in 1975. Gandhi lost power in the elections held in 1977 after the emergency was lifted in 1977.
Advani said Gadkari would announce the schedule of his yatra in Delhi.
Advani’s visit came amid reports of RSS fears of Advani’s yatra being an attempt to project himself as a prime ministerial candidate.
Both Advani and RSS deny any differences.
Terming the 2008 cash-for-votes scam as the “dirtiest scandal in the history of India”, Advani said: “It has not only put a blot on the political system but on democracy.”
Advani also slammed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for the Commonwealth Games (CWG), 2G spectrum and Adarsh society scams.
He said that action had been taken against some senior leaders, not on the initiative of the government, but due to the judidciary and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).