Modi, Yeddyurappa skip BJP national executive meet

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Friday downplayed the absence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the party's national executive committee meeting, claiming it was not the result of infighting within the party.

"Infighting take place in the Congress and not in our party," senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters in New Delhi when asked about Modi's absence from the meeting.

Denying any rift between senior leaders of the party, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, "There is no clash".

Barring Modi and former Karantaka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, all prominent BJP leaders attended the two-day national meet of the party.

Modi's absence from the crucial meeting comes in the backdrop of reported differences between him and senior party leader L K Advani.

While BJP leaders are silent on the growing rift between Modi and Advani, the Gujarat CM is reportedly unhappy with Advani's yatra for "good governance and clean politics", which starts on October 11.

Modi had reportedly even told Advani that the yatra is "unnecessary and irrelevant", according to sources.