Advani yatra: Rajnath clarifies

A day after the RSS came out openly backing the National Integration Yatra proposed by former BJP president LK Advani, the party appeared to be at pains to prove that the yatra was a party effort and was not concerned with any individual political careers.

Sources close to BJP President Rajnath Singh indicated that he was keen to dispel the impression that he had not been consulted by Advani before the yatra was proposed. Singh, in fact, stated on record that Advani had called him up a day after the Varanasi blasts, to consult on the matter.

"Advaniji called me up and said that the consensus among party leaders in Delhi is that such a yatra should take place and I readily concurred," he said.

Singh is apparently upset by reports that certain office bearers in the party said that he had not be consulted but informed by Advani about the yatra. He views it as an effort to undermine his authority in the party.

BJP MPs, too, fell in line after RSS chief KS Sudershan's statement yesterday saying that a yatra to promote national integration would be supported by the RSS. Top sources in the party also indicated that Rajnath Singh was going to undertake the yatra to drive home the party message.

Rajnath Singh's yatra will commence from the Jagannath Temple in Puri, Orissa. Singh will travel to Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and end in Delhi.

LK Advani's yatra will start from Gandhinagar and cross Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and end in Delhi. The yatras will start on April 6 and end on May 9.

"Singh had, in fact, planned for a campaign of this sort after the Assembly polls, but he genuinely believes that the Hindu backlash that Advani is talking about exists. So neither the RSS nor Singh will object to the yatra, in a time where the party is directionless. Only they will be careful that it is not seen as anybody's political comeback," said a source close to Singh.