Tumkur: Jnanpith awardee U R Ananthamurthy said on Thursday that former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani would be a better choice for the Prime Minister’s post than Narendra Modi with the backing of Third Front.

Expressing his political views at an interaction with a packed audience at Tumkur University on Thursday, he said that the BJP might be shrugging off its past image of pro-Hindu party as it has been shaping leadership among the oppressed classes.

“When I received my Padma Bhushan award I told Advani that his party has made a backward class leader, Kalyan Singh, as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. But Advani said Kalyan Singh was made CM not nder the backward class quota,” he recalled.

He backed Aam Admi Party (AAP), saying that it is instilling hopes among the common people.

“Breaking rules is the need of the hour. AAP has emerged as the rustic form of Gandhi,” he said.

However, he was critical of the AAP members who had attacked  BJP workers as it would spoil the image of their leader Arvind Kejriwal.

Recalling his association with Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the grandson of Mahathma Gandhi whom the AAP is planning to pitch against Modi, Ananthamurthy said he was happy that Gopal Krishna Gandhi has been following his grandfather’s principles.

‘Development of Gujarat is a Myth’

“It is a myth that Gujarat is a developed state and the people who live with those myths, cannot be critics. Only criticism helps the true democracy thrive,” he explained.

Ananthamurthy’s wife Esther, Tumkur University Vice-Chancellor Raja Sab, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Media Advisor Dinesh Amin Mattu and Registrar M V Naduvinamani were among those present on the occasion.