Powercut shortens Advani's speech

Hindupur, Apr 16: Powercut last night cut short senior BJP leader L K Advani's longest speech during the Bharat Suraksha Yatra in this Naxal-affected town of Andhra Pradesh.

Mr Advani does not usually deliver long speeches due to time constraints but powercut played spoil-sport as the BJP leader was in a mood to deliver an elaborate address.

In his hour-long speech, Mr Advani touched upon a host of issues concerning the security challenges faced by the country ranging from Naxal violence in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the hindrance posed by corruption in delivering good governance.

Senior party leader M Venkaiah Naidu held the audiences under sway by his quick and uninterrupted Telugu translation.

''My intention of undertaking this yatra is to wake up the mythological character of Kumbhakarna, the younger brother of Ravana who is known for sleeping for six months, who is now oblivious to the dangers of terrorism and extremism both in Hyderabad and Delhi,'' Mr Advani said recalling for the first time the Andhra Pradesh government was talking to the People's War Group without a condition of laying down arms.

The Centre made things complicated for checking Naxal violence because it jettisoned the system of monitoring Naxal activities by the Union Home Secretary.

''We were able to check Naxal violence effectively during the NDA regime and it was not the case today,'' Mr Advani said.

UNI