Sunday, June 26 2005 18:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President L K Advani today (Jun 26, 2005) turned nostalgic as he relived the days of the Emergency when he was incarcerated for 19 months in Bangalore central jail.

"Never in my life have I spent such a long period of 19 months in one place at a stretch", Advani said, as he went down memory lane harking back to the Emergency days spent in Bangalore central jail.

Advani was arrested here on June 26 in 1975 along with senior BJP (then Jan Sangh) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shyamnandan Mishra when they were here as members of a parliamentary committee.

"I had even learnt Kannada and could read headlines in major Kannada newspapers. May be, if my stay had been prolonged, I would have learnt Kannada much better", he said.

Bangalore, therefore, had a special place in him, he said. "There are three places which have a special place in me and with which I have close emotional links. Firstly, Karachi which is my birth place. Secondly, Gandhinagar, which has been electing me to Parliament. Thirdly, Bangalore", Advani said.