Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003 |
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By Mahesh Vijapurkar
Just 27 party men, including the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the BJP chief, M. Venkaiah Naidu, and a lone representative of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Madandas Devi, mandated to coordinate between the Sangh Parivar and the BJP, will confabulate in a RSS-inspired institution in this town, 80 km from Mumbai. The party general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, said, "there is no structured agenda". But, the focus will be on how to improve the BJP's numbers in the Lok Sabha and "consolidate the party as the principal pole in India's political establishment". Mr. Vajpayee, who will attend the informal dinner tonight for the participants but will leave a day earlier to prepare for his visit to China, and Mr. Advani, now overseas, would be together for most of the penultimate day of the conference. Officially, it was said that "what Mr. Vajpayee did and achieved in five years has widened his support base". And Mr. Advani has "always and will continue to assist" Mr. Vajpayee, the "leader for the polls in 2004". The intent is to shape the policies so that the BJP gets a "clear majority and the NDA two-thirds majority". "The next elections would be fought as NDA. The desire for an absolute majority of our own is not to be misinterpreted as our plans to break the NDA." Instead, the BJP would like to widen the NDA with the possible induction of the BSP. All issues that can "revitalise the party", the Government's work, and the image of the Government and the party will be discussed. Ayodhya is not listed for discussions, but it could come up when participants raise the various aspects of electioneering for the future. Election issues in general will be discussed and that can draw the debate towards any direction. According to Mr. Mahajan, "there are no differences with the RSS and we neither have an intent or the locus to ask them to keep quiet". The elections to the four State Assemblies this year will not come up. The party has already crafted the strategy for the Assembly polls which was being put to use. The BJP will be preoccupied with Mission 2004: the Lok Sabha elections. "How best to secure a stronger mandate for the BJP, and then for the NDA partners, is the concern," Mr. Mahajan said. The performance of the NDA Government will be reviewed. Making the BJP "more aggressive" and at the same time, more acceptable to the people will get a lot of attention. The party would not be satisfied with merely increasing numbers for the NDA constituents in the Lok Sabha; it would, at the same time, seek substantial accretion for itself. That would perhaps come by sharpening its tools to deal with the seats held by itself now and pitch in stronger in seats where it had come in second in the previous elections. The discussions at the "chintan baithak" may later take shape as party resolutions, probably at the next BJP national executive. A note prepared by the general secretaries will be given to all the participants at tonight's dinner at the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini. The media, kept out of the dinner, would be briefed if Mr. Naidu has something to convey.
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