Even as the State Government celebrated the completion of its 1,000 days in power, senior leaders remained absent, indicating a rift in the party Even as the mammoth rally organised by the BJP to celebrate the completion of 1,000 days of the state government was successful in attracting lakhs, it revealed political chinks in the party, with a conspicuous absence of national leaders. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2011/feb/bjp.jpg" border="5" /> Big bosses skip meet: Nitin Gadkari, BJP National President , who was taken to the dais in an open jeep procession, was the only leader among the party high command to be seen. Pic/Ramesh HS Senior leaders L K Advani, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, and leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Arun Jaitley, did not attend the function that boasted the achievements of the Yeddyurappa government. Insiders said it only reflected on the internal bickering in the partyu00a0-- Advani is unhappy with Yeddyurappa, who is facing corruption charges, while Gadkari is backing him. 'No objection' "The party is facing a major embarrassment at the national level due to allegations levelled against Yedyurappa, and leaders such as Advani and Swaraj want him to resign. Though they didn't turn up, they didn't have an objection for the function, as it was an attempt to bring the grass root level party workers together," said a source in the BJP. It is a known fact that the party is divided at the national levelu00a0-- with Gadkari supporting Yeddyurappa and others baying for his blood. "The tussle between Gadkari and Swaraj only helped Yeddyurappa in surviving as the chief minister with support of the national president, when Swaraj had blessed the rebels led by Reddys launching a political coup to oust him last year. "While the UPA government has agreed for the Joint Parliamentary Committee probe, we are not only silenced but are on the back foot because of the CM's tainted image," said a BJP leader. On cloud nine However, the turn of events after the high court upheld the disqualification of five independent MLAs, last week, and the phenomenal success of the rally, has strengthened Yeddyurappa's position, and the high command cannot be harsh to him right now, said the source. The Supreme Court is expected to pronounce the verdict on the case of 11 disqualified BJP legislators this week. If that is favourable, his detractors will try to corner Yeddyurappa again. But, Yeddyurappa looked like he was on cloud nine with the rally eliciting a good response and was in no mood to recall the tension in the party. "We had invited our senior leaders to the rally. They could not turn up because of their preoccupations and there is absolutely nothing to read into it," he told MiD DAY.

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Even as the State Government celebrated the completion of its 1,000 days in power, senior leaders remained absent, indicating a rift in the party

Biggies give BJP rally a miss

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Biggies give BJP rally a miss

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