New Delhi: While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced that its veteran leader LK Advani will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar constituency, the 86-year-old has expressed his reluctance on trying his luck from Gujarat. The BJP patriarch had insisted on contesting the elections from Bhopal but the BJP leadership decided that he should stick to his current seat.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and incumbent Bhopal MP Kailash Joshi too had expressed their desire that Advani should contest the Lok Sabha polls from the state.
Advani had reportedly said that just like other senior party leaders he should also be given a choice of contesting the elections from the constituency according to his preference.
The saffron party though tried its best to placate its senior leader. Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj drove to the octogenarian leader's residence on Wednesday and tried to pacify him. The BJP is of the view that if Advani contests from Bhopal then it will set a wrong precedent that all is not well between him and the party's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi.
Making his displeasure evident over his re-nomination from Gandhinagar seat, the senior BJP leader on Wednesday had also recused himself from the party's CEC meet.
Advani has clearly stated that he is not dependent on Modi for a Lok Sabha seat.
The party is trying its best to persuade Advani to contest from Gandhinagar. The Gujarat strongman had also telephoned him to discuss the matter and he will now be contesting from Vadodara seat as the sitting Ahmedabad MP Haren Pathan has a close proximity with LK Advani.
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