L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Nitin Gadkari not in BJP's 'jail bharo' list

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Nitin Gadkari are conspicuous by their absence in the list of leaders who will participate in the party's week-long, nationwide 'jail bharo' agitation against the UPA government on corruption and price rise from May 27.

Sharing details of the agitation programme, BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said party leaders will court arrest across the country during the campaign against corruption, price rise and scams of the central government which have directly affected the common man.

When asked about Advani and other senior leaders not figuring in the list of those who will participate in the jail bharo agitation, Naqvi was evasive and said he is sharing the names of those who will be a part of the programme.

Party sources were not sure about the participation of these three leaders. There are murmurs about the timing of this agitation as the scorching summers are acting as a dampener for the party workers and supporters. Gadkari had fainted in one such agitation on April 21, 2010 in Delhi.

Speculation is rife that the agitation may only attract media attention and not encourage much participation from the people.

BJP President Rajnath Singh will lead the party in the 'jail bharo' agitation in the national capital. He will be accompanied by party General Secretary Ananth Kumar and Prakash Javadekar.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj will participate in the agitation in Madhya Pradesh while her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley will court arrest in Chandigarh.

BJP General Secretary Amit Shah will lead the party in Uttar Pradesh during the agitation and will court arrest in Rampur on May 29 along with Naqvi and state unit chief Laxmikant Bajpayee.

Shah will also participate in the agitation in Maharashtra with Gopinath Munde against the Congress-led UPA.

BJP general secretaries Varun Gandhi, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, J P Nadda and Muralidhar Rao will lead the party's agitation in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal respectively.

Uma Bharti and Thawarchand Gehlot will participate in the jail bharo programme in Uttar Pradesh.

Preparations are also on in the BJP for holding the first National Executive under Rajnath Singh's presidentship since he took charge on January 23.

Naqvi said the conclave, to be held in Goa on June 8-9, will discuss political, economic issues, internal and external security, foreign policy and the "failure" of the central government on all fronts.

"The economy of the country has reached the lowest level and price rise has touched the highest level. All this is a striking example of maladministration and corruption of this government," Naqvi said.

The conclave will also discuss the strategy for the forthcoming Assembly elections as well as the Lok Sabha polls. "The next Prime Minister will be from the BJP," Naqvi claimed.

BJP's slogan for these programmes is "Bring BJP to power, save the nation" and "BJP is the alternative to fulfill pledge of good governance".