Advani to begin yatra from Gujarat; Rajnath from Orissa

Going full steam ahead with its twin national-integration yatra programme, Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] on Thursday announced that L K Advani [ Images ] would embark on it from Gujarat on April 6 while party chief Rajnath Singh would commence the journey from Orissa on the same day.

The leader of opposition would traverse roughly 5,800 km across 10 states - Gujarat, Maharashtra [ Images ], Karnataka [ Images ], Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh [ Images ], Rajasthan [ Images ], Uttar Pradesh [ Images ], Haryana and Delhi [ Images ], senior party leader N Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in New Delhi.

Advani would cover the yatra in roughly 26 days with breaks in between to campaign in West Bengal [ Images ], Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.

Both leaders would skip the five poll-bound states and the northeast, Naidu said.

Singh would cover approximately 5,000 km over 24 days in 22 states, including Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Himachal Pradesh [ Images ], Jammu and Kashmir [ Images ], Punjab [ Images ], Rajasthan and Haryana.

The twin yatra, announced in the wake of the Varanasi bomb blasts, would begin on the party's foundation day on April 6 and conclude on May 10, the 149th anniversary of India's [ Images ] First War of Independence.

The details of the yatra, aimed at "opposing the divisive policies of United Progressive Alliance [ Images ] and its soft approach against terrorism," were finalised at a meeting of state party presidents and general secretary organisation chaired by Rajnath Singh.