Monday, November 8, 2021, Lal Kishenchand Advani -- the politician who took the Bharatiya Janata Party from its parliamentary nadir in 1984, when it won just two Lok Sabha seats, to establishing the edifice for its present dominance in Indian politics -- will turn 94.
Demanding the immediate suspension of the 'head count' of minorities in the defence forces, the Bharatiya Janata Party Friday cautioned the government against the move which it said was "fraught with dangerous implications".
Advani now needs to play the role of an elder statesman and steer the fortunes of his troubled party, writes Vivek Gumaste.
L K Advani admitted that there were few errors in his book 'My Country My Life', which was re-launched by the party president Rajnath Singh along with a special website created by the party. "When I saw the story about S A Dange in a national daily, I realised the mistake and I called him up and apologised to him for the mistake. Such mistakes should not have taken place but somehow it happened," Advani said.
Keeping alive the issue of his prime ministerial ambitions, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has said he would decide on it depending on his "health" and "capability" to contribute at the time of Lok Sabha polls.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal mounted a blazing campaign in the hot summer after he was released from the Tihar jail on interim bail on May 10, drawing huge crowds at rallies and roadshows, but it proved insufficient to propel his Aam Aadmi Party past the Bharartiya Janata Party challenge in the national capital.
RJD Chief Lalu Prasad and his archrival in Bihar politics Nitish Kumar would also be watching the event, said organisers.
Describing the terror attack on Mumbai as an 'invasion of India' launched from Pakistan, Leader of Opposition L K Advani on Friday demanded the setting up of an inquiry commission at central level to determine what went wrong and suggest steps to prevent the recurrence of such terror strikes. Speaking on the Motion of Thanks to President's address in the Lok Sabha, he also asked the government to share with the House the evidence given to Pakistan on 26/11.
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, a key ally of the previous Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government, today said his Telugu Desam Party will never help L K Advani become Prime Minister nor support any BJP government at the Centre.
Accusing Defence Minister A K Antony of making a "false" statement on Poonch killings, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Wednesday said he should apologise as his remarks are intended to "exonerate" Pakistan as government wants to continue talks.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday took a dig at senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, saying that an 'iron man' like him must be hurt that people have accepted Dr Manmohan Singh, whom he had termed as a 'weak' prime minister during the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls."Till yesterday, you were prime ministerial candidate and you were referring to Manmohan Singh as a weak prime minister.
There is no use of the BJP targeting the likes of Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, directly by the party's political bosses, both in Delhi and the respective state capitals, or even using the Raj Bhavans to fire those salvos from. Successive elections have proved that it's counter-productive, if anything. But the BJP is yet to understand it, acknowledge it, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The deputy PM referred to an article written by actor Amitabh Bachchan extolling the new, resurgent India.
The 1975 batch IAS officer joined the BJP after his retirement in 2013.
Krishnamurthy, who had to resign as party president following the its defeat in the last Lok Sabha election, in an interview to a Hindi weekly, said the BJP had lost the polls as it had drifted away from its ideology and values.
She said she would hand over her resignation to Governor Balram Jhakar on Monday.
Terming the agitation for Ram temple the biggest since India's freedom movement, he said it was aimed at the outcome which the verdict has made possible.
A day after his release on interim bail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging he was on a 'One nation, One leader' mission to impose 'dictatorship' by putting all leaders from opposition behind bars and 'politically finishing off' those in the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In what may be his last address to Bharatiya Janata Party MPs as Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Lal Krishna Advani on Tuesday expressed happiness over the display of the opposition unity in Parliament on every issue during the current winter session.
The Bharatiya Janata Party Thursday went on the offensive on the cash-for-vote scam with senior leader L K Advani hailing as "whistle-blowers" the two former party MPs jailed in the scam and declaring that if they are guilty then he too should be sent behind bars.
Advani said, that Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani boasted that international pressure has forced India to return to the negotiating table. He asked if there was any other reason to hold talks, reversing India's steadfast stand after 26/11 against resumption of talks until Islamabad brings the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice and cracks down on terrorist groups operating from its soil.
The Supreme Court verdict on the Ram temple showed India's secular character to the world, Shah said.
"I have seen several MPs who do not speak a word (in Parliament) and yet are elected repeatedly," the Leader of Opposition and senior BJP leader said.
Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Friday sharpened his attack on the BJP by saying that senior party leader L K Advani was 'at the centre' of the cash-for-votes scam drama enacted in the Lok Sabha last year. "It is a great sense of pity. Here was a man who was consumed by an ambition to be prime minister, and that desire made him commit so many mistakes," Singh said. Singh further said that Advani had two options to choose from.
The satta market is accepting bets on how many times Modiji will mention Nehru at his election rallies, says A Ganesh Nadar with a wink.
Gandhi said the party will defeat the saffron party and Narendra Modi in Gujarat just the way it was defeated in Ayodhya.
Bharatiya Janata Party patriarch L K Advani will sit in his old room in Parliament House with the Government on Tuesday restoring it to the veteran leader, days after indications of his possible dislocation from there.
Gujarat Congress on Friday filed a complaint with returning officer of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, alleging that senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the party's candidate L K Advani submitted false information regarding his education in the election affidavits.
The government has to specify what it intends to do with caste census data. It will be closely tracked if the government would simultaneously move towards removing the present 50% bar on reservations using means which are permitted in law. If this is not done, the entire exercise will become meaningless and could boomerang on the BJP, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Kharge claimed that though the BJP says the corrupt must be put in jails, when leaders facing corruption charges join the saffron party, they are "put on the lap" and sent to Rajya Sabha or assembly.
Seeking to appropriate the credit for the new anti-terror laws, The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said the Congress-led coalition should accept its mistake of not bringing such legislations earlier and alleged that the delay has harmed the country. "You have woken from the slumber of Kumbhakarna of the last 7-8 years. I want you to accept that you were wrong and it was a mistake," he said.
Taking a jibe over bickering in Bharatiya Janata Party on Narendra Modi's nomination as prime ministerial candidate, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday claimed that the party would not gain from the decision and empathised with L K Advani saying the "Iron man" has been left to "rust".
Voicing confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party will form the next government at the Centre, veteran BJP leader L K Advani, who had reservations on the PM candidature of Narendra Modi, on Sunday said he will accept any role the party will offer him after the Lok Sabha elections.
A close confidante of the 85-year-old leader told rediff.com that the current crisis in the BJP will be resolved by tonight or by early Wednesday morning.
Opposition on Tuesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has signalled to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to quit in the wake of DDCA row.
Amid efforts to convince L K Advani on declaring Narendra Modi as Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Bihar's BJP chief Sushil Kumar Modi said the veteran leader had failed to gauge the public mood in this regard.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a one-on-one meeting with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, with whom he is not on the best of terms since the party patriarch opposed his elevation as poll campaign head.
On the eve of the BJP's National Executive in Bengaluru, questions arose over whether party stalwart L K Advani will address the two-day conclave.
Murli Manohar Joshi makes a rare public appearance.
"I had never intended not contesting from Gandhinagar," senior BJP leader L K Advani said in Gandhinagar on Saturday as he arrived for filing his nomination from the Lok Sabha constituency.
