Date:28/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/28/stories/2008012851440100.htm

Front Page

Rajnath: UPA falling apart

Neena Vyas

Asks party workers to ensure victory in coming elections

Commitment to development
Alliance with NDA partners stable

NEW DELHI: The Gujarat electoral victory has silenced the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political opponents by sending out a “positive message” with regard to the party’s “ideological commitment” and to its “ability in the field of development,” the party president Rajnath Singh said here on Sunday

Delivering his opening speech at the party’s one-day national executive committee here that is to be followed by a two-day national council session, he said, the message that this sent out was that the Modi government had remained steadfast to the party ideology, that is Hindutva, although the word was not mentioned, and it had also shown its commitment to development.

Attacking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for lack of cohesion, he said that while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) had left the UPA, several other partners and supporters were openly bickering with the Congress on a daily basis. The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress were publicly denigrating one another and the “behaviour of the Left Front, which is extending support from outside, is known to all.”

His tone was upbeat as he pointed out that the year 2007 saw the party establish four State governments on its own or with its allies – in Punjab a government was set up with the Akalis ousting a Congress government; in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh the Congress was routed; and in Gujarat the BJP retained power.

Looking ahead to the several State assembly elections between now and the Lok Sabha election next year, Mr. Singh hoped the BJP would be able to form a government in Karnataka and retain power in the crucial polls for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh later this year. He asked party workers to strive hard to ensure victory. They needed to get the upper hand against the anti-incumbency factor, he said.

Mr. Singh said that as opposed to the Congress-led UPA, the BJP had proved it was able to lead a credible alliance. There were signs that the people were rejecting the UPA, and the NDA would be their “natural choice.”

The National Democratic Alliance had delivered under Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was now poised to come to power with L.K. Advani as its “natural choice” for the prime ministerial position.