)
It seems a truce has been called between 'guru' L K Advani and his 'shishya' Narendra Modi post the controversy over the latter's anointment as prime ministerial candidate of BJP. This will be the first time that the duo shared dais in Gujarat following the bitter fallout over Modi's elevation.
Modi lined up a series of red carpet events for his mentor Advani in Ahmedabad. Both first attended the meeting of the Somnath Temple Board in the morning along with former Gujarat chief minsiter Keshubhai Patel.
This was followed by number of inaugurations and functions where the former deputy prime minister was the guest of honour. The series began with opening of the two gardens developed as part of the Sabarmati River Front Development Project built at the cost of over Rs 18 crore. Followed by inauguration of Institute of Infrastructure, Technology, Research and Management (IITRAM) in Modi's constituency Maninagar. The duo spent almost the entire day together.
On September 13, after Modi was declared the PM candidate by the BJP parliamentary board, an upset Advani released a letter written to the party chief Rajnath Singh expressing his anguish over Modi's elevation. "This afternoon when you had come to my residence to inform me about the parliamentary board meeting, I had said something about my anguish as also my disappointment over your style of functioning," the BJP veteran said in the two-para letter. "I had told you that I will think whether I should share my thoughts with other Board members or not. Now I have decided that it is better that I do not attend today's meeting," he wrote.
Earlier in June Advani had resigned had from top positions in the BJP a day after Modi was selected to head party's election campaign for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, exposing deep rifts within the party. However, he withdrew the resignation later after series of meeting with top BJP leaders.
