For his anti-corruption yatra beginning on October 11, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran L.K. Advani will travel in a modified luxury bus as his “rath”, equipped with a lift and communication facilities for his 12,000- km journey across 18 states.
The bus, being modified and readied in Pune, will reach the venue of Mr Advani’s “Jan Chetna Yatra” (public awareness journey) in Bihar before October 11, BJP secretary Shyam Jaju said. “The bus will be equipped with lift (sky lift), television, computer and public address system. It will have place for him to rest and a chamber for party functionaries to sit and interact with him,” Mr Jaju said.
The BJP has chosen the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan on October 11 and his birthplace Sitab Diara in Bihar as the venue to launch the yatra. Mr Jaju said the bus may not reach Sitab Diara as the village still had flood waters. He said Mr Advani, 84, and other senior party leaders were likely to visit Sitab Diara on October 11 in a helicopter to pay their respects to Jayaprakash Narayan and then come to Chapra to take forward the yatra. Jayaprakash Narayan’s mobilisation of students in 1974 and call for “Total Revolution: led to event that culminated in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposing Emergency rule in 1975.
Gandhi lost power in the 1977 elections. Mr Jaju said the Jan Chetna Yatra will focus on “good governance and clean politics” and pass through 18 states and some union territories. It will culminate in Delhi on November 20 after covering almost 12,000 km — about 300 km each day. He said the yatra will pass through poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa and touch Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam.
— IANS