Search the Internet          Tips

BJP's Gujarat Gaurav Yatra postponed further

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday postponed the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra by a day to September 8.

"The launch of the yatra has been put off by one day because September 7 falls on shravani amavas," BJP state unit general secretary Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said.

"On shravani amavas temples in the state are thronged by people and in the vicinity of many of them [temples], fairs are organised. Therefore, BJP decided to postpone the launch of the yatra," he added.

On Sunday, the BJP had postponed the yatra from September 3 to September 7 to avoid a showdown with the Congress, which has planned a parallel function at the very point of its launch in Phagvel village, Kheda district, on that day.

BJP would launch its yatra from Kheda district's Phagvel village, BJP state unit chief Rajendrasingh Rana said. Rana said, "Discussions were on in this regard since Monday night. But the decision to change the programme was taken today."

To a question whether Chief Minister Narendra Modi too was privy to the decision, Rana said, "Yes."

The yatra is scheduled to transverse all the 25 districts of the state, covering 182 assembly constituencies before October.

As per the earlier plan, the yatra, to be led by Modi and Rana, was to have been flagged off from the Ambaji Temple in north Gujarat on July four, but had to be postponed following severe opposition from the National Human Rights Commission and the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, which led to the intervention of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Gujarat Elections 2002: The complete coverage

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report