The 86-year-old leader is said to have argued that since most of the senior party leaders were giving their preferences of seats, he too should be allowed to make a choice.
Madhya Pradesh Election Committee of the BJP reportedly wanted him to Advani to contest from Bhopal.
Meanwhile, given the predicament in the party over Advani’s seat, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan called Rajnath earlier today as per reports. Reports are also doing the round that Modi’s close aide and former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah may contest from Gandhinagar.
The decision, however, has been left to the party.
Meanwhile, reports say Modi too had telephoned Advani this morning and urged him to contest from Gandhinagar seat. Modi’s candidature from Varanasi seat has already been declared by the party and a decision on his Gujarat seat is expected today.
The party insisted that Advani should contest from Gandhinagar as his shifting of constituency will send “wrong signals”, the sources said.
Advani is not in the best of terms with Modi after he opposed Gujarat Chief Minister’s anointment as BJP’s PM candidate recently.
Meanwhile, sitting Bhopal MP and BJP veteran Kailash Joshi today said he was not keen on contesting from the seat and he had offered the seat to the BJP patriarch.
–_PTi