The Hindu : BJP to vote against Mulayam Govt.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 06, 2003

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National

BJP to vote against Mulayam Govt.

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI SEPT. 5. The Bharatiya Janata Party made it crystal-clear that it would vote against the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh when the new Chief Minister seeks a vote of confidence in the Assembly on Monday. The party said it would play the role of the Opposition, as earlier declared, and issue a whip to ensure that all its MLAs cast their vote against the Government.

The situation in the State after the resignation of the Mayawati Government was reviewed at a meeting here today at the residence of the party president, Venkaiah Naidu. The focus was on a strategy to revive the party's falling political fortunes in the State. It decided to play the role of the Opposition, cut its political losses accumulated as the ruling coalition partner and make an all-out effort to once again establish direct contact with the people.

Above all, the party reiterated that it wanted to move away from "casteist politics" and jump on the bandwagon of what it described as "cultural nationalism, security and development". However, the party spokesperson and general secretary, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, later said that although the Ram temple issue was part of "cultural nationalism", it would not be taken up as an electoral issue. But the BJP State president, Vinay Katiyar, publicly declared that the Ram temple would be on the party's agenda.

Today's meeting was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, the three general secretaries, Pramod Mahajan, Sanjay Joshi and Mr. Naqvi, and seven State leaders of the party, including Lalji Tandon, Vinay Katiyar, Kalraj Mishra and Om Prakash Singh. Mr. Naidu presided.

Later, Mr. Mahajan told reporters that Ms. Mayawati's decision to resign was "suicidal" and "betrayal of the BJP". The party had supported her Government all along and she herself took the decision to end the life of the Government. Mr. Naqvi said that Ms. Mayawati's allegation that a "group of BJP leaders" had plotted to destabilise her Government was "baseless, far from the truth and totally unnecessary".

Interestingly, the BJP does not seem to have shut the door on Ms. Mayawati. The party spokesperson said that in the fast-changing political scenario, it was difficult to tell who would be friend and who the enemy a few months or years from now. There was the distinct impression that the BJP is still hoping for some kind of a tie-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party by the time the Lok Sabha elections took place in a year.

State leaders were today told that they should be prepared for any eventuality. In short, they have been asked to begin preparations for the elections in earnest. "We want the party to go forward on its own steam and be able to control the direction of politics in the State," Mr. Naqvi said.

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