Campaigner LK? Few keen

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He might be considered as BJP’s senior most leader but it seems there are no takers for party’s tallest leader L.K. Advani for campaigning in the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections. There’s scarcely any demand from the BJP’s state unit seeking the services of the octogenarian leader as a campaigner. Instead, the party’s Bihar unit sees second generation leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Shahnawaz Hussain as greater crowd-pullers at public rallies and therefore would rather have them canvas for votes. Six phased assembly polls in Bihar are beginning from October 21 and BJP is contesting on 102 of the 243 Assembly seats. BJP’s alliance partner JD(U) is contesting on the remaining Assembly berths.
Sources disclosed there is hardly any demand for BJP’s parliamentary party chairman Mr Advani where as state unit has asked for leaders including Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley. There is also demand for other senior leaders including Venkaiah Naidu and M.M. Joshi to campaign in the state during polls. Mr Advani’s name is among the list of BJP leaders submitted to the Election Commission, who will campaign during the polls.
A senior state unit leader said Mr Advani is not considered as a crowd puller atleast by the state unit therefore, this time the state unit wants leaders with good oratory skills so that the party cadre doesn’t have to struggle hard to gather crowd. The party’s central election cell is yet to give a final shape to its leaders campaign schedule.
Sources said a section within the BJP state unit has also requested for Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his counterpart in Gujarat Narendra Modi for campaigning.
Both are considered as good orators. However, Mr Modi, a Hindutva icon, is unlikely to campaign in the state as Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar has strong objection against Mr Modi campaigning during polls. Both BJP and JD(U) have reached an understanding that Mr Modi will not campaign during the polls.