Modi at our beck and call for Karnataka campaign: State BJP

The BJP today sought to put at rest speculation over whether Narendra Modi will campaign in Karnataka, maintaining that the Gujarat chief minister had made it clear that he will be at their "beck and call" and conduct a whirlwind tour to help BJP retain power.

On persistent speculation on whether Modi would give a pass to the campaigning as the BJP government was dogged by corruption charges and dissidence within the party, president Rajnath Singh, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and senior leader Ananth Kumar issued a quick rebuttal.

Singh spoke via video conference from the national capital after a private jet carrying him, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley on their way to address a rally here to kick-off party's campaign for May 5 elections, landed under emergency conditions at Delhi airport with the trip being cancelled.

Referring to media reports which suggested that Modi and party stalwart L K Advani might stay away from campaign, he categorically said these were untrue and all the central leaders would travel to Karnataka to address public meetings.

On how many days Modi would spend in Karnataka for campaigning, Ananth Kumar quoted him as saying, "It's not a question of how many days. I will conduct whirlwind tour to bring back BJP to power in Karnataka."