Bomb found on LK Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra route

CHENNAI: BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra route had to be altered in Tamil Nadu after a pipe bomb was found below a bridge in Alampatti village on the outskirts of Madurai, the route the BJP leader was scheduled to take.

Police were not immediately able to confirm the nature of the explosives, which was found with a long piece of wire attached. A police official in Madurai said no one had been arrested until 5 pm. The incident is considered to be of a serious nature, given the fact that a bomb had been detected before Advani's arrival in Coimbatore for a public meeting in 1998. The same year the city had also witnessed serial bomb blasts.

BJP state secretary S Palanivelsamy, who is accompanying Advani, told ET that the yatra's route was altered to skip Kunnathur and Kallupatty villages which had been on the original route, and instead passed through Virudhunagar and Thenkasi on way to Thiruvananthapuram where Advani is scheduled to stay overnight.

The BJP had gone without any seat in the assembly elections in the sate earlier this year, and Advani appeared to strike a chord with locals in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu when he spoke in support of the local people who are demanding a halt to the work at the Kudankulam nuclear project. He assured them his support, stating that commercial considerations should not upstage the security concerns of people living in the area.