The Hindu : BJP not for early LS polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jun 21, 2003

National

National

BJP not for early LS polls

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI JUNE 20. The Bharatiya Janata Party is inclined to go to the polls as scheduled next year and spend the time available to speed up implementation of various low-cost and no-cost programmes and build on the positive image it says it already has built for itself under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The time would be spent in "propagating the party to the people'' in an intense drive. The BJP chief, Venkaiah Naidu, put it this way: "Improve all connectivity'', between the party and the Government, party and cadre, the cadre and the people, with the intent of "reaching every home across the country in 2003'' to achieve the purpose of Mission 2004 — win the elections by a clear mandate. Meantime, each and every MP's performance and the people's perception of them would be reviewed by the BJP leader, Pramod Mahajan, to start with in the five States where elections are to be held by the year-end.

An arrangement has been agreed upon whereby Mr. Naidu and the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, would assess the capacity to win again all the 182 seats which the party won in the previous election and to improve the scope for gaining those 112 more seats where it ranked second to the winners. They would also help allies win their seats.

The party would ask the voters for a clear mandate on the ground that the performance was good despite a limited mandate in 1999 and that to ensure a better future for the country — "strong, stable and prosperous nation" — the party should be brought back.

The months ahead would be spent on projecting the party as a protagonist of "the nation first'' principle, pro-development, pro-poor and pro-farmer. The poor among the "various minorities,'' including artisans in the rural areas it was recommended, should be given the benefit of some quotas.

The conclusions of the conclave were that the Government led by the BJP had done well. The party leaders were "satisfied with its performance''. The BJP would focus on keeping good relations with all its allies.

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