Land Bill: BJP admant, oppn won't budge

Rallying behind the government, the BJP today decided to launch a counter-offensive against the opposition "disinformation campaign" on the controversial land bill with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that his growth was pro-poor. At the two day National Executive, which concluded today without party patriarch LK Advani giving his customary address, Modi emphasized on the growth model that his government was trying to pursue through creation of jobs and anti-poverty programmes to benefit the poor. There was no official word on why Advani did not make a speech, which he has done in all the Executive meetings barring in 2013, but there was speculation that he was not keen to speak as he felt marginalised since the emergence of Modi.