Advani to undertake nationwide yatra

Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani will launch the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign from Kanyakumari on March 10.

Advani said in New Delhi that the first phase of his road campaign would take him from Kanyakumari to Amritsar, where he will reach on March 26.

He will embark on the second phase on March 30 from Porbandar in Gujarat to Puri in Orissa, where he will reach on April 14.

Advani said that the March 26 to 30 gap would allow him to file his nomination papers for the polls.

"If the party nominates me, I will re-contest the elections from Gujarat," he said.

He criticised the Congress for failing to take the country forward and said he would highlight the achievements of the National Democratic Alliance government.

"The focus of the elections this time is development," the deputy PM said, adding that this qualitative change would be beneficial for the country's democracy.

Advani said he would convey to the people how swaraj (independence) had been converted to suraj (good governance) in the last five years.

In the presence of BJP general secretaries Pramod Mahajan and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, he said that in 1998, people voted against destabilisation. "In 1999, it was for continuity. Now it is for political stability, for continuity and over and above all for performance."

"Incumbency, generally speaking, is always regarded a liability. In our case incumbency is not a liability. Incumbency is, in fact, the Vajpayee-led NDA government's biggest asset," he added.