NANDED, June 2: The small town of Nanded with a population of four lakh, accorded a warm reception to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, L K Advani, on Sunday night, who re-entered Maharashtra on the second leg of his 59-day long 15,000 km ``Swarna Jayanti Rath'' yatra.

A crowd of around 4500 people waited till late in the night as Advani took the mike at around 11 pm to launch a diatribe against the Congress and United Front (UF) parties at the Centre, while talking about corruption among politicians in general.

A large section of the 60,000 strong Sikh population in the town kept away from the meeting as the late night arrival, absence of Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal and certain local issues dampened their enthusiasm. A section of the Sikhs here belong to the Congress.

Local Sikhs here are angry over the Maharashtra Government's demand for land belonging to the Sachkand Gurudas here, ostensibly for a medical college. ``Apparently, the land demanded by the State Government is one already having a government hospital on it. They want more land now,'' said Nanak Singh.

The already existing tensions here aggravated further when a Sikh rickshaw driver was murdered yesterday by five Hindu youths. Though four of them were apprehended, the Sikhs are far from satisfied. Add to this, the State Government has recently approved the formation of the Gurudwara committee which includes six members from one Singh family.

In a bid to the woo the Sikhs here, Advani inserted a sentence on the genius of Sikh doctors in Kuala Lumpur, while talking about the brilliant Indians who go abroad and do well for themselves.

This morning the BJP president alongwith State Home Minister Gopinath Munde visited the Gurudwara Takhat Sachkand Sri Hazur Aebchal Nagar. The last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh had breathed his last here.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.