Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani on Monday landed in this village, the birthplace of legendary socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, to begin a 12,000 km cross-country 'Jan Chetna' campaign to raise awareness against corruption.
Advani, landed in Sitab Diara, about 150 km from the state capital Patna, in a helicopter. Bihar chief minister and key Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Nitish Kumar as well as senior members of his party Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and Arun Jaitley were also here. The leaders garlanded a statue of Jayaprakash Narayan, known as JP, and visited his home in Lala Tola.
As he starts off on his sixth 'yatra', Advani, 83, will address the first of the public meetings close to the village and then proceed to Chapra, about 80 km from Patna, by helicopter where the Jan Chetna Yatra will be formally flagged off by Nitish Kumar. A large number of BJP leaders, workers and hundreds of people from villages thronged to maidan to listen Advani. The plan was to flag off the yatra from Sitab Diara but the venue was moved to Chapra in view of the bad road condition and waterlogging. "Advani's rath yatra will be flagged off at the airport ground in Chapra," BJP leader Mangal Pandey said. Advani, who landed in Patna from New Delhi on Tuesday morning, is also slated to address a public meeting in Patna on Tuesday afternoon.
The 38-day 12,000 km public awareness campaign will see him cover about 300 km a day in his special rath or modified bus. "I have always received support from my two families — personal family and the ideological family," he told reporters at his New Delhi residence before leaving.