The Hindu : BJP committed to old agenda: Naidu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 21, 2003

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National

BJP committed to old agenda: Naidu

By Neena Vyas

RAIPUR JULY 20. The Bharatiya Janata Party's "message" from its Raipur national executive was loud and clear to its cadre — the party is not ashamed of its Hindutva agenda, it remains committed to it, but as part of a coalition it can only pursue what is accepted as a common agenda for governance.

Briefing correspondents here after the conclusion of the three-day conclave, the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, expressed satisfaction that the delegates had gone back knowing that the party was united, it was clear in its approach and that there was harmony between the party and the Government. And "above all" they knew that the party was being led by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose leadership had been "tried and tested". Without saying so specifically, Mr. Naidu was indirectly juxtaposing Mr. Vajpayee's leadership against that of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, who has certainly not been "tried".

Mr. Naidu said the BJP was committed to its old agenda — uniform civil code, Ayodhya, scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution giving special rights to Jammu and Kashmir, banning of cow slaughter, curbing infiltration and population control — but it could implement only a common programme agreed upon with its allies.

He said the Government could move a new women's reservation Bill this monsoon session starting on Monday and that it was a "practical way" out of the impasse in Parliament on this issue. If passed, as he was very hopeful, it would be a historic legislation that would empower women and change the face of legislatures in this country.

The `mantra' he gave to the party was "unity, clarity and confidence, leading to victory". He told delegates that the party work was great and victory would be stupendous — "badhiya kaam, bhari safalta, ekta aur spashtta."

The party has announced that all States barring the five going to the polls later this year should complete organisational elections by October 15 after which the party national president would be elected in the first week of December. Mr. Naidu created a stir by saying that "there will be a new party president" in December but other party leaders later clarified that by "new" he simply meant a "newly elected president" which almost certainly would be Mr. Naidu himself, although there are persistent reports that some party men, including Mr. Naidu, have been repeatedly asking the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, to lead the party in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. However, at this juncture that seems unlikely, most party leaders agree.

For two days, August 23 and 24, the party will hold a camp for MPs at Jaipur and on September 20 and 21 a similar session will be held for all MLAs in Bhopal. It seems that MPs and MLAs will be given specific responsibilities related to election work and campaigning during these sessions.

And finally, the party will be relying on a massive `gaon gaon chalo, ghar ghar chalo abhiyan' (campaign to go to every village, every home) to carry its "message" to the people and ask them to vote for continuing the National Democratic Alliance Government, albeit with some new partners and the exit of some old allies.

The party will be contesting all the coming Assembly elections on its own but for the Lok Sabha polls, the NDA experiment will continue most certainly, Mr. Naidu indicated today.

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