Shimla: Upbeat about victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, senior BJP leader today said it is a "lucky coincidence" the same two states that inspired the party's electoral jump have gone to the polls together.

Winding up the BJP's election campaign, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha claimed the results of the assembly elections in the two states would also help the saffron party in the next parliamentary polls.

"It s a lucky coincidence for the BJP that polls are being held in the same two state that inspired its electoral jump," Advani said.

He said it was in Palampur in 1989 that he had drafted the party resolution to support the Ayodhya movement. Dwelling on the importance of Gujarat, he said the proposal on Ayodhya was inspired by a decision by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952 for renovation of the Somnath temple.

"We thought when Pandit Nehru and Sardar Vallavbhai Patel could support renovation of the Somnath temple, why can t the government of Rajiv Gandhi support a movement to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya," Advani, who was recently chosen the BJP s prime ministerial candidate, said.

He said the Ayodhya movement "pitch-forked" the BJP from a two-seat party in 1984 to power, but admitted that the India Shining campaign when he was Deputy Prime Minister during the NDA rule was a "mistake. The better slogan would have been India Rising ".

Source : PTI