Modi uses Advani's 'rath' to start his poll campaign in Gujarat

Modi uses Advani's 'rath' to start his poll campaign in Gujarat

Narendra Modi on Tuesday kicked off his campaign for a third term as Gujarat chief minister with month-long state-wide yatra.
Modi has named the yatra as 'Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra'. The yatra, which will cover most parts of the state, will start from


related stories
Will take on Modi in Gujarat, says JD-U
Split visible? RSS leaders, Modi avoid meeting each other
Bahucharaji temple town of North Gujarat in the presence of former BJP president Rajnath Singh and Rajya Sabha opposition leader Arun Jaitley.
"Bahucharaji temple has been chosen to sound the poll bugle as Maruti will construct its new car plant near the temple town and the yatra will also talk about development of the state", BJP spokesperson Vijay Rupani said.

Modi will use the same "rath" or vehicle that party patriarch LK Advani used for his anti-corruption Jan Chetna yatra last year.

This is the first major election campaigning exercise being carried out by Modi ahead of elections to be held by the end of this year, after the state's Congress opposition organised four major yatras.

On Monday NDA's ally JD(U) announced that the party has decided to contest assembly elections in Gujarat on its own.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose antipathy to Modi is well known, will also campaign for the JD-U candidates
in Gujarat, where elections are due this year end.

Giving indications of the party's plans, JD-U President Sharad Yadav told reporters "BJP is the larger party in the
NDA. We will go for alliance with BJP wherever it wants us, but barring in Gujarat".