M A I N   N E W S

PM, Advani to lead poll campaign in Gujarat

New Delhi, November 3
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani will be among the top BJP leaders campaigning for the party ahead of the crucial December 12 Gujarat Assembly elections.

The state election campaign committee, headed by former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, will chalk out the campaign schedule for the top leaders, which will be later finalised by the headquarters, according to party sources.

Union Minister Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh besides party President Venkaiah Naidu and General Secretary-in-charge of Gujarat Arun Jaitley will be among the star campaigners of the party. All prominent leaders, Central ministers, MPs and important leaders of other states will devote one week time to election campaign in the state.

However, Mr Advani will be spending maximum time in the state as he has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Gandhinagar and electoral victory has become a “prestige issue” for him.

While the party has little doubts about the voting pattern of the minorities in the state, it has decided to field Union Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain and party general secretary and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to project its “secular credentials” and to expose “pseudo secularists.” PTI