Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was given a rousing welcome by local BJP leaders in Udaipur on Friday when he reached the lake city to address the Maharana Pratap Jayanti function, but he cut short his scheduled visit when he was informed that his rival Sanjay Joshi resigned as member of the BJP national executive.
As per his scheduled programme, he was supposed to visit temple town of Nathdwara to offer prayers, but he decided to move Mumbai after Mr Joshi resigned. The BJP and VHP workers became active on Thursday afternoon when they were informed that Mr Modi was coming to the city. Senior BJP leaders, like Gulab Chand Kataria and Kiran Maheshwari, were not present in Udaipur to receive him as most of them had already moved to Mumbai for the national executive meeting. “We were all galvanised by his presence,” says local BJP leader Chanchal in Udaipur. Mr Modi last time visited Udaipur when he unveiled statue of RSS leader late Sundar Singh Bhandari.
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BSY takes a U-turn, will attend meet
age CORRESPONDENT
BENGALURU, MAY 24
In yet another U-turn, former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Thursday decided to attend the national executive of the BJP in Mumbai on Friday.
The embattled leader, who last week announced his decision to skip the two-day meet as he felt that senior central leaders had scuppered his come-back plans, made up his mind to rush to Mumbai when he heard news of party president Nitin Gadkari securing a second term in office.
Sources close to the leader said he would use the opportunity to personally invite Mr Gadkari and other senior leaders to his granddaughter’s wedding, scheduled for May 30, in Bengaluru.
Sources said another reason for the former chief minister to attend the national executive was the presence of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi with whom he has an excellent rapport. In fact, he went to the extent of suggesting that the national executive take a decision to project Mr Modi as the party’s prime ministerial candidate while talking to media persons at the Lokayukta court on Thursday.