BJP Yatra to commence from April six

New Delhi, Mar 17 (UNI) BJP national president Rajnath Singh and senior leader L K Advani will begin their 'national integration yatras' on April 6 from Puri (Orissa) and Dwarka (Gujarat) respectively, the party announced today.

The yatras of both leaders is aimed to awaken people against the divisive policy of minority appeasement being pursued by the UPA, the party said.

A decision to this effect was taken by the BJP Central Election Committee and Parliamentary Board which approved that the two yatras will cover 10,800 km and 17 states and will conclude in Delhi on May 10, senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu told reporters here.

States going to elections this year and the North-Eastern region has not been included in the yatra.

Presidents and organising general secretaries of the states will attend the meeting and submit their feedback report to the party, Mr Naidu added.

Mr Advani will cover 10 states Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.

Mr Singh, commencing his yatra from Puri in Orissa, will cover the Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, UP, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi.

Both the leaders will be covering five common states.

Party general secretary Ananth Kumar will look after Mr Advani's rath yatra while Delhi BJP leader Vijay Goel will manage Mr Singh's yatra. Mr Naidu will be in overall charge of the twin yatra.

Defending the BJP undertaking the yatra, Mr Naidu said he failed to understanding the logic behind parties opposing the yatra.

''For Indians, Yatras have been an age old mode of communicating with the masses and the party had embarked upon this many times in the past,'' he added.

He said the two leaders will be highlighting dangers of pursuing policy of Muslim appeasement and vote bank politics practised by the UPA.

''If the UPA parties feel this policy is correct and believe it is proper to seek a head count of Muslims in defence forces and the religion-based reservations are correct, they were free to defend and reach out to the masses. The BJP wanted justice for all and appeasement for none,'' Mr Naidu added.

He said the BJP strongly condemns the resolution passed by the Congress and the Left in Kerala Assembly seeking release of Coimbatore blast accused and Islamic Sevak Sangh leader Abdul Samad Madani.

He said the party will not only raise this issue during the twin yatra but also in the Parliament.

''They (UPA) go to any extent to let off a fundamentalist and a suspect having links with Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI, for votes'', he added.

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