File photo of senior BJP leader LK Advani
After putting his party through the wringer, BJP leader LK Advani has agreed to run for Parliament from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, abandoning plans to relocate to Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. (
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In a statement this evening, Mr Advani said that he had been told by the BJP that "The choice between the two parliamentary seats should be left to me." The 87-year-old added, "I am deeply touched by this gesture of my party colleagues." (
Read Mr Advani's full statement)
The announcement ends a crisis that exposed two major concerns of the BJP: Mr Advani's continuing opposition to its prime ministerial candidate,
Narendra Modi, and his deepening alliance with another party powerhouse, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Last year, in his public and eventually unsuccessful campaign to stop the BJP from picking Mr Modi as its presumptive prime minister, Mr Advani had tacitly pitched Mr Chouhan as an alternative.
This morning, Mr Modi was the first of many A-listers from his party to visit Mr Advani at his home, urging him to seek a sixth term from Gujarat.
The settlement, however, was accelerated by the party's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or RSS, which pinged both Mr Advani and party president Rajnath Singh, urging them to consult each other and close the gap.
Mr Modi, 64, has governed Gujarat for more than 10 years. An exit by Mr Advani from the state would have reflected poorly on the prime ministerial candidate, the BJP felt. Mr Advani's supporters, on the other hand, are worried that BJP workers in Gujarat would work against him as payback for his known opposition to Mr Modi.
BJP sources say Mr Advani was told that was an invalid concern, and that Mr Modi would help him win Gandhinagar once again.