RS: If you are a team then why did Advani get upset three times?
Modi: I don't think he is angry.
RS: He was first annoyed when Narendra Modi was made the national convener for the elections in Goa. Then the party went to appease him. Next he was upset when Narendra Modi was declared BJP's PM candidate. He didn't attend that meeting and once again the party had to persuade him. Recently he was upset over ticket distribution in the Lok Sabha elections. He wanted to fight from Ahmedabad and party insisted that he contests from Bhopal.
Modi: All these three issues have been clarified by Advani and the party. They were all fiction. Because after Goa meeting, he called me up to congratulate me. He was not well so he couldn't come to Goa. But this made juicy news for media.
RS: And Jaswant Singh...
Modi: Jaswant Singh has just written a review of one of my biographies.
RS: And you didn't give him ticket...
Modi: I don't distribute tickets. State election Committee sends its recommendations. Central committee approves of it. Recently we helped his son win elections. BJP has lakhs of workers. It becomes difficult to manage when tickets are distributed.
RS: But the situation is so grave that Rahul Gandhi is worried that influential leaders like Jaswant Singh, L K Advani have been sidelined by Narendra Modi.
Modi: These are people who held Modi's hand to make him walk. And even today I seek their advice by sitting at their feet. BJP does not work that way. But in their party, look what happened to Sitaram Kesri. He was the President of All India Congress Committee. They threw him out of his office to bring in Sonia Gandhi.
