Modi meets Advani

New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) In what is being seen as a reconciliation effort, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi met senior BJP leader L.K. Advani here Tuesday, a week after the patriarch quit all party posts following the former’s elevation as the BJP’s campaign committee chief.

He also visited ailing former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and met senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

The Gujarat chief minister, who is on his first visit to Delhi since the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Goa conclave where he was elevated, met Advani at his residence. The meeting lasted nearly an hour.

Sources said that in the meeting, Modi told Advani that he remains the patriarch of the BJP.

Advani quit key leadership posts June 10 and hit out at his colleagues. But he made a dramatic u-turn the next day after the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) intervened.

The apparent climbdown by Advani came after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat persuaded him to reverse his decision to resign from the BJP’s national executive, the parliamentary board and the election committee.

Key ally Janata Dal-United, meanwhile, quit the National Democratic Alliance following Modi’s appointment as the campaign committee chief.

According to sources, Modi also assured Advani that BJP will win the 2014 general elections even without allies.

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