It’s up to Advani to choose Bhopal or Gandhinagar:Rajnath(Video)

Chennai, 20 March 2014

The BJP yesterday declared NDA Chairman L K Advani’s candidature from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat. However today the party president while replying to media persons in Chennai said Advani is free to choice whether he wants to contest from Gandhinagar or Bhopal, because both party units from both places have proposed to field him.

Putting the onus on LK Advani, BJP President Rajnath Singh today said that it was up to the patriarch to choose the seat he wants to contest Lok Sabha polls from.

“We have got a proposal from Madhya Pradesh for Advani to contest from Bhopal. It is his choice,” Rajnath Singh said. “It is for Advani to choose his Lok Sabha seat whether it is GandhiNagar or Bhopal,” he added.

He also rubbished the opinion that Advani was being sidelined in BJP. “The CEC has taken the decision for Advani’s seat. But the final decision lies with him,” he reiterated.

Earlier in the day BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley met Advani separately to convince the latter to fight from the seat chosen for him for the Lok Sabha polls.

Following is the press statement issued by Shri Rajnath Singh, President, Bharatiya Janata Party today:

Shri L.K. Advani has represented the Gandhinagar Parliamentary Constituency since 1991. He has been winning that constituency in each of the last five general elections by a large margin. The Gujarat Unit of BJP had unanimously recommended Shri Advaniji’s name for contesting the Lok Sabha election from Gandhinagar this time also, and the Central Election Committee of the Party also unanimously decided that Shri Advaniji should contest from Gandhinagar.

There was an alternate suggestion that Shri Advaniji should contest from Bhopal. The Madhya Pradesh Unit of the BJP has recommended Shri Advaniji’s name from the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat. They were keen that Shri Advaniji, the senior most leader of the party should contest from that State, so that the Party’s gains in that State may also be enhanced.

I have consulted the members of the Parliamentary Board and the Central Election Committee of the Party on this issue telephonically since most of the members are traveling in various parts of the country. It is the unanimous view of the party that the choice of where to contest from should be left to Shri Advaniji himself. I have spoken to Shri Advaniji and conveyed the views of all to him in this regard. The Party will respect the opinion of Shri Advaniji with regard to his choice of constituency for contesting the election.