Sitab Diara (Bihar), Oct 11 (IANS): The 'Jan Chetna' cross-country campaign against corruption was aimed at increasing awareness about corruption and misgovernance and instilling confidence of a "brighter India", Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said here Tuesday.

"We want to remove despair and frustration among the common people and create confidence in them about about a brighter India," Advani said at a public meeting in Sitab Diara, the birthplace of legendary socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan.

Advani, 83, will launch his Jan Chetna yatra from Chapra town, 70 km away. His sixth road campaign takes him to 23 states and four union territories in 38 days.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and senior BJP leaders, including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Anant Kumar, were present at the meeting.

If the 20th century belonged to the western countries, he said, the 21st century would belong to India.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will give leadership for the progress of the country in the 21st century as it did in Bihar in the past six years, he added.

Key NDA ally and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said it was an honour for Sitab Diara to be selected for the start of Advani's campaign.

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief said Advani had been always at the forefront of the fight against corruption.

Advani had landed in Sitab Diara, about 150 km from the state capital Patna, in a helicopter. The leaders garlanded a statue of Jayaprakash Narayan, known as JP, and visited his home in Lala Tola.

The plan was to flag off the yatra from Sitab Diara but the venue was moved to Chapra in view of the bad road condition and waterlogging.

The 12,000 km public awareness campaign will see Advani cover about 300 km a day in his special rath or modified bus.

"I have always received support from my two families - personal family and the ideological family," he told reporters at his New Delhi residence before leaving.

"That has kept me fine in body and mind," he added.