Advani justifies yatra at BJP National Executive

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Senior oppositon party BJP's
leader L K Advani Saturday justified his proposed yatra for
good governance and clean politics, saying a spate of scams
and "subversion" of parliamentary institutions by UPA
government had prompted him to reach out to the people across
the country.
In his valedictory address at BJP national executive meet
here, Advani said the arrest of "whistleblowers", a reference
to two former BJP MPs and his former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni,
in the cash-for-vote scam was the trigger for his yatra.
Advani's yatra is said to have caused a rift between him
and western Indian state Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra
Modi who reportedly feels Advani is trying to throw in his hat
for becoming BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate in the next Lok
Sabha elections.
"Advani described the cash-for-vote scam as the biggest
scam in the country since independence. He attacked the
government for talking about a law for protection of
whistleblowers but on the other hand sent them to jail," a
senior party leader said.
Advani said the 2G spectrum scam, Commonwealth Games
anomalies and the Adarsh Housing Society scam had also
disturbed him.
Advani praised the Comptoller and Auditor General (CAG)
and the Supreme Court for their role in dealing with
corruption.
"These scams and the arrest of the whistleblower MPs had
made Advani think of the yatra and he said in his speech that
he felt the need to go to villages and districts across the
country to make people aware about the scams," a party leader
said.
He charged there was a "crisis" of governance and the UPA
government was "not fit" to rule.
The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) conclave discussed in
detail the plans of the yatra and some sessions were dedicated
to it. PTI RC
HMI