It is curtains for L K Advani, who built BJP from scratch

New Delhi, Mar 22: The electoral journey of L K Advani, the man who built the party came to an end, with the BJP announcing its list of candidates to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP fielded Amit Shah from Gandhinagar, a seat represented by Advani six times. Following the announcement, the Congress was quick to react. Party spokesperson, Randeep Surjewala said, " first Advani was forcibly sent to the Margdarshak Mandal. Now even his parliamentary seat has been snatched. When Modi does not respect elders, how will he honour the trust of the people."

The BJP in a late night development announced its list of 184 candidates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would contest from Varanasi, the seat he had won in 2014. However there is no word as yet on whether Modi would contest from a second seat.

In the 2014 elections, Advani had won the Gandhinagar seat by a huge margin of 4.83 lakh votes. He defeated Kirit Patel of the Congress. However the victory was largely attributed to the Modi wave in 2014.

In 2014 there was speculation that Advani may be shifted to Bhopal, while Shah would be given the Gandhinagar seat. Advani who led the Ramjanmabhoomi movement had put the party in a commendable position. The party it may be recalled had won just two seats in the 1984 elections.