BJP to kick off a star-studded campaign

With deputy Prime Minister L K Advani completing the Gujarat leg of his Bharat Uday Yatra, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is all set parade a galaxy of top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Bollywood stars to woo the voters.

Meanwhile, the party's state unit president Rajendrasinh Rana claimed on Thursday that the BJP will win all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

"Our party is very confident of winning all the 26 seats in the state in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections," said Rana, while addressing a media briefing at the BJP state party office here on Thursday.

Rana said after the successful Bharat Uday Yatra by L K Advani, the stage has been set for the party to make a clean sweep of the seats in the state.

Among the top BJP leaders who will campaign for various candidates in Gujarat over the next 20 days include Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, BJP party president Venkiah Naidu, finance minister Jaswant Singh, human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bhariti and Vasundhara Raje among others.

Some of the Bollywood stars and personalities that the party will bring to Gujarat for campaigning include Vinod Khanna and Hema Malini.

"Even deputy Prime Minister L K Advani is expected to return to Gujarat on April 16, after completion of his Bharat Uday Yatra," Rana said.

"The party will contest the forthcoming elections with three basic agenda - good governance, developmental works and the prime minister's vision to make India a developed nation by 2020," said Rana.

He added that Advani's Yatra in Gujarat ended at Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district and his yatra has now entered Rajasthan.

"The yatra has covered eight districts in Gujarat and Advani addressed over 30 public meetings and was welcomed over 45 places in the state," the BJP state president said.

In reply to a question whether the state unit was open to the idea of reconciliation between different communities in the backdrop of the recent communal riots in the state, Rana said: "We are an open-minded party and the BJP is trying to bridge the gap between all the communities in the state."

Advani had said while filing his nomination in Gandhinagar earlier this week, that it is time for a reconciliation between the two communities.