NEW DELHI: In a bid to placate party stalwarts Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who are believed to have been sulking after being denied tickets to contest the Lok Sabha polls, BJP president Amit Shah met the veteran leaders on Monday.
The meeting came on the day the party unveiled its manifesto — Sankalp Patra.
Sources said the veterans were miffed with the way they were informed that they won’t be contesting this time.
Party leaders said Shah called on the stalwarts to seek their inputs on the party’s manifesto.
However, insiders claimed the BJP president met the seniors to personally explain the rationale behind the party’s decision not to field candidates over 75 years of age.
The decision had been made at the party’s parliamentary board meeting.
The meeting, in some quarters, is also being seen as an attempt at damage control.
Advani and Joshi are among the founding members of the BJP.
Last month, Shah personally conveyed to Advani that he won’t be fielded from Gandhinagar, a seat he has held for six terms.
Joshi went public last month saying the party had decided against fielding him from Kanpur.