New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) A galaxy of BJP bigwigs came together to release its much delayed manifesto Monday, but an iciness between prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and manifesto committee chief Murli Manohar Joshi was evident.
The apparent differences that caused delay in release the of the manifesto - happening on the first day of Lok Sabha poll - were sought to be glossed over with presentation of a united face in public and before cameras.
Party insiders said the delay in the manifesto release was due to "differences between Modi and Joshi". Modi wanted some changes in the document, which Joshi was not happy with, those privy to inner-party affairs said on condition of anonymity.
The BJP officially dubbed the delay as a "logistic issue", saying leaders were busy campaigning.
Modi, who sat at the centre of the stage, was flanked on either side by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh and Joshi. While he engaged in conversation with Rajnath Singh several times, no words were exchanged with Joshi. Neither did Modi try and supplement whatever Joshi was saying.
Both Rajnath Singh and Modi appeared uninterested and were seen chatting and flipping pages of the manifesto booklet as Joshi made his presentation on the key promises and answered most of journalists' queries.
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and veteran leader L.K. Advani were also seen sitting quietly on the flanks.
However, when it came to words, the leaders said all the right things.
Joshi referred to Modi as the "future prime minister", Advani repeated time and again that he was "very happy" with these elections, while Modi chose to focus on the manifesto alone.
While the tension between leaders prevailed, it was decided by the party to give prominence to Joshi, in an apparent attempt to pacify the elder who felt sidelined by Modi. Joshi took the few questions asked by journalists, and stayed back after the official release function was over to answer more.
The only time when the BJP prime ministerial candidate was seen exchanging a word with Joshi was a brief moment before leaving the stage, an apparent good bye.
The BJP, anticipating a large crowd, organised the release not at its national headquarters, but in the premises of the adjoining 9, Ashoka Road, official bungalow of senor leader Arun Jaitley, who was out campaigning in Amritsar where he filed his nomination papers. Also missing were former party presidents Nitin Gadkari and M Venkaiah Naidu.
Modi, whose voice was already hoarse addressing election rallies, left soon after the event was over for his public meetings scheduled for the day.
China's big smartphone company Xiaomi recently launched the Mi 11 series Globy. The company launc
Salaar 2: Shooting of Salaar 2 is going to start soon, know when the film will hit the theatres.
The duo of Pan India superstar Prabhas and director Prashant Neel made a huge splash with the fil
NRI's house burgled in Gurgaon
Gurgaon, Jan 2 (IANS) Unidentified men burgled a house of a non-resident Indian (NRI) in an ups
Modi prays at Golden Temple, visits Jallianwala Bagh
Amritsar, March 23 (IANS) Walking in the midst of hundreds of devotees, Prime Minister Narendra
New Delhi. The number of people recovering from Coronavirus across the country increased to 14,18
Salaar Twitter Review: A day after the release of Shah Rukh Khan's 'Dinky', finally Rebel Star Pr
Anand Mahindra congratulated the new CEO of Twitter in this way, know what he said through a tweet
Indian-origin Parag Agarwal has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of micro-blog
Modi-Obama Climate Change usual Rhetoric: Greenpeace
New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS) Greenpeace India Sunday expressed its disappointment that the India-US
In Ultimate Table Tennis Season 4, the Mumbai team achieved its second consecutive victory. Mumba
Never imagined will be in White House: Obama
New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS) US President Barack Obama Tuesday said he never imagined he would enter
