The Hindu : BJP sets target of 50 plus seats in U.P.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 03, 2004

National

National

BJP sets target of 50 plus seats in U.P.

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, FEB. 2. The central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party today set a target of more than 50 Lok Sabha seats to be won from Uttar Pradesh for the party's core committee of the State which met here this morning.

The party president, Venkaiah Naidu, told the committee members that the BJP must win back its old glory when it was the number one political force in Uttar Pradesh. The State itself must get out of the "BIMARU" mindset and take its place among the developing States. At present, development was at a standstill, law and order was worsening as evident from the recent kidnapping of the Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav's relative, and the State Government was taking haphazard decisions without taking the people into confidence as when it decided to abolish several districts, including the Gautam Buddha Nagar district comprising NOIDA.

The core committee meeting, which was also attended and addressed by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, and the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, decided that two prabharis (men in-charge) will be appointed for each Lok Sabha constituency and constituency-level meetings of workers, including booth-level workers, will be held over the next one month. Meetings for fund collection will also be held. Eight rallies have been planned in the State over February with each to be attended by at least two central leaders, including the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mr. Advani noted that in the past the BJP has won on a negative vote, in other words an anti-Congress vote, but this time the party was seeking a positive vote for the performance of the Vajpayee Government. Never before had a party had the fortune of having such a favourable atmosphere before an election. One factor was the "total disarray" in the Opposition camp. At the same time, he warned that while self-respect and self-esteem were good, the cadre should beware of smugness and self-gratification.

The meeting was held amid reports that Mr. Mahajan will be flying to Lucknow tomorrow to meet the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Rashtriya Kranti Party leader, Kalyan Singh, to finalise details of his "homecoming" before the BJP's national council session on February 6.

Later, the party spokesperson, Prakash Javadekar, said: "Our target for Uttar Pradesh is 55 plus seats to be won." The BJP won more than 50 seats in the 1996 and 1998 general elections, but the number dropped in 1999 to under 30 seats. What the party is looking for is a revival of its fortunes in the State where the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have run ahead of it, leaving the BJP at the number three slot ahead of the Congress.

There is a sigh of relief as of now in the party that neither Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party nor Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party has as yet tied up with the Congress. The BJP has been anxious on this count as an alliance between the Congress and either of the other two parties could complicate matters for it in a State that accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats.

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