Modi Reaches Out to Advani, Asks Him to Contest 2019 Polls: Report

An Anandabazar Patrika report details how PM Modi & Amit Shah recently met LK Advani asking him to contest in 2019.

Veteran BJP leader LK Advani (left) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right). 

(Photo: AP)

With political parties starting to gear up for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, it has now emerged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants BJP veteran LK Advani to be active in the BJP’s campaign and contest as a candidate in the general elections.

A report published by Bengali newspaper Anandabazar Patrika details how PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah conveyed this message to Advani in recent meetings that they had with him. Apart from Advani, the BJP may also be looking at Murli Manohar Joshi to play an active role and contest as a candidate in the 2019 polls, it adds.

The report also cited speculation that the BJP may be wanting to bring senior leader Yashwant Sinha, who recently quit the party, back into the party fold.

Notably, the BJP’s apparent wish for Advani and other veteran leaders to contest elections goes against its age-limit policy set at 75 years for candidates. Advani has been a MP from the Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat since 1998.

Advani’s role in the BJP has been sidelined in the last few years, with many observers saying that the 90-year-old leader does not enjoy a very amicable relationship with PM Modi.

As pointed out by a News18 report, both Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi have been excluded from the BJP’s highest-decision making body — the Parliamentary Board — but have rather been made members of an advisory body called the Marg Darshak Mandal.

The Anandabazar Patrika report detailing PM Modi’s outreach to Advani comes in a context when the BJP has suffered a string of electoral losses in the recently-held bypolls, while the opposition unity seems to be getting stronger.

At the same time, all has not been well within the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) too, with the TDP walking out of the alliance, and other constituents like the Shiv Sena and the JD(U) voicing their various concerns.