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2009 Lok Sabha polls : Upbeat BJP to go all out for victory

	June 09, 2008

Upbeat over its victory in the Karnataka Assembly elec¬tions, the BJP is chalking out a comprehensive strategy for victory in the next Lok Sabha elections to be held by May next year. The party is trying to tackle both the political and the organisational obstacles in the way of its return to power at the Centre, after a gap of five years. The BJP national execu¬tive, at its meeting in New Delhi on June 1-2, decided to project an inclusive approach, as opposed to hardline Hindutva, advocated by some of its members, in order to build bridges with the par¬ty’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and to attract more allies at the State level, if possible.



Apart from scouting for more allies, the BJP is seeking to come up with a winning strategy in the country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, where the party had come a cropper in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, winning just 10 seats out of the state’s total 80 seats, which contributed in no small measure to the party’s failure to return to power at the Centre.





BJP hopeful of attracting strong allies



The political resolution adopted at the national executive meeting said that the party will begin preparations for the biggest electoral battle in the country straight away and in the coming months, it will prepare for assuming “responsibilities of governance.” Signaling that the countdown for the elections, so far as the BJP is concerned, has already begun, it held the Congress-led UPA responsible for its own electoral defeats in the states, the latest being in Karnataka. The resolution said, “the Congress party does not have the political courage to honestly analyse the reasons for the defeats. It is the failure of the UPA to provide good governance that is responsible for their defeat.”



Exuding confidence over the prospects of its coming to power, especially after realising the dream of capturing power in a southern state, the political resolution said : “A strong BJP will certainly attract strong allies and a strong NDA should ready itself for the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP will prepare itself in the coming months for assuming the responsibilities of governance.”



Without naming the Nehru-Gandhi family, the BJP national executive attacked the dominance of “one family”. The party said over-reliance of the Congress on just one family and its successive generations was proving detrimental to the creation of a leadership with mass support base. The resolution said, “merit in the Congress party takes a back seat as the dynasty is the only recognised leadership.”



Hitting out at the Left parties, the BJP blamed much of the UPA’s “mismanagement” of the economy on the Communist parties’ constant attempt to influence government policies `from within.’ The resolution also noted that the Left parties’ credibility and political strength has been eroded by what happened in Nandigram.





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NDA open to more allies : Arun Jaitley



BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley has said that the NDA is open to admitting more parties. Speaking to mediapersons in Lucknow on June 5, he said the contest in the coming Lok Sabha elections would be between the BJP-led saffron alliance and the UPA and parties which are not a partner of either, would be left out. To a query on new entrants into the NDA, Jaitley said, apart from known political opponents, dialogue could be held with others.



Speaking about the situation in Uttar Pradesh, Jaitley said as the main fight in the Lok Sabha elections would be between two coalitions, parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which are not in either of them, would be left out.



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Shun hardline approach : Advani



In contrast with BJP president Rajnath Singh’s call for re-defining secularism while opening the executive meeting, the party’s prime-ministerial candidate L.K. Advani gave a call to the party to shun the hardline approach and reach out to every section of society including the Muslims and the Christians, who have remained aloof from the party. Projecting himself as a more acceptable Prime Minister, Advani said this is the only way “the BJP can become a clear winner” in the Lok Sabha elections.



Stating that “we have never had it so good,” he announced that he was borrowing a phrase from the BJP’s successful campaign in Gujarat to coin the party’s slogan for the next Lok Sabha polls -”Jeetegi Bhajapa, Jeetega Bharat (When the BJP wins, India will win).”



Advani’s remarks, in favour of a more centrist approach, were in contrast with what BJP chief Rajnath Singh had said on the opening day. Advani said, “We should emphasise that our party seeks all-round development and participation of the minorities in a non-divisive and integrative agenda without recourse to appeasement or religion-based reservations.”







Advani was clearly trying to undo any damage that the BJP leaders may have done to the NDA by raking up the Hindutva line. “Let’s remember that the expansion, stability and cohesion of the NDA depends on our ability to attract and retain allies who may not be ideologically aligned with the BJP on all issues,” he said.



“Let’s also remember that what the people of India are looking for is a government that can deliver honest and good governance and make India strong both in development and securi¬ty,” he added.



The BJP could expect more parties to join its alliance only if it pushed the agenda of “good governance, development and security” so that the party gets sufficient numerical strength in Parliament for a stable and strong government, he added.



Advani asked his partymen “not to ignore a single task, not to waste a single winnable seat to achieve our goal of securing a decisive majority for the NDA, with the BJP emerging as a strong anchor in the next Lok Sabha polls.”



He said, “in all our mass campaigns, we should not only highlight the UPA government’s failures, but also explain our own superior agenda of governance.”



BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted Advani as saying that “the BJP is a front runner because of the enormous psy¬chological impact of the victory in Karnataka all over the coun¬try. Let’s now make it a winner.”





Party in poll mode



As the party’s national executive wrapped up its two-day conclave, top leaders agreed to begin selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls at least eight months away.



Many BJP stalwarts, who are members of the Rajya Sabha, will be in the fray. They could include Rajnath Singh himself, besides M.M. Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Yashwant Sinha, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Vinay Katiyar and even, former Rajya Sabha MP Sha¬trughan Sinha.



BJP insiders say these leaders are stated to be on the lookout for constituencies that will suit them. To start with, the BJP will declare candidates for at least 250 Lok Sabha seats in the next two months, preferably by mid-July.



BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad confirmed that party chief Rajnath Singh urged the state leaders to start work on identifying candidates.



In fact, L.K. Advani hinted at the probable criteria for selection when he wrapped up the conclave.



“All members of the BJP executive should understand that ‘anti-incumbency’ does not operate only or always against a government or a Chief Minister. It generally manifests as a vote against incumbent MLAs or MPs.”



Advani said dropping of more than 30 per cent sitting MLAs in Gujarat had given good result. “Let us think in similar terms in Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh to beat the Congress plan to take advantage of the anti-incumbency factor.”





Rajnath Singh for redefining secularism



Opening the national executive meeting, party president Rajnath Singh sought to initiate a new debate on the definition of secularism. He wanted a constitutional bar on the use of the term Dharamnirpeksh when the word in official Hindi translation of the Constitution’s Preamble was Panthnirpeksh.



He said, there is a world of difference between the two terms as panthnirpeksh means a nation neutral to any faith or sect, while dharamnirpeksh denotes a nation devoid of righteous approach or eternal values.



Rajnath Singh also tried to resurrect other old Hindutva issues when he said, “along with cultural nationalism, Art. 370, Uniform Civil Code and true secularism, we are committed to pre¬serve national unity and integrity.”



The BJP president welcomed the first ever fatwa from Islamic seminary, Darul-uloom Deoband against terrorism. He said, the fatwa showed that “Deoband is seeking to dissociate Muslims from terrorism when the Congress-led Central Government wishes to equate Muslims with terrorism, and on this very basis, rejects the demand for enactment of an anti-terrorism law.”



Observers say, Rajnath Singh’s remarks show that the BJP is seeking to use internal security and minority appeasement as issues more carefully as part of soft Hindutva even as it keeps asserting that it has not forgotten issues like Ram Mandir, Art. 370 and Uniform Civil Code.





UPA not safeguarding country’s interests



The foreign policy resolution adopted by the BJP national executive charged the UPA Government with dereliction of duty and violation of the oath of office to safeguard the country’s inter¬ests. It said India’s relations with its neighbours, including China, had worsened; with Russia,the ties had been allowed to stagnate; and with the United States, the UPA government’s, “maladroit handling of matters” had reduced the relationship to a single issue - the nuclear deal.







Rajnath Singh demanded that the Manmohan Singh government should end what he called “its charade on the nuclear deal” and take a call on the issue. He said the Congress should not waste time pleading with the BJP to support the deal. Instead, it should put the UPA House in order.



Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, who released the foreign policy resolution, said the declaration of Nepal as a secular state is a negative development. But he said that the end of monarchy in the world’s only Hindu kingdom is the result of wishes of the people of that country.



During the discussion on the foreign policy resolution, many leaders joined the demand for a re-think on the country’s foreign policy that takes challenges from “invading” China in the north, and “infiltrating” Bangladesh more seriously than the threat from Pakistan on the other side. There was also a demand for formulation of a national policy to deal with the problem of the large number of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in the country.





Secular remark shows BJP’s real face : Congress



Reacting sharply to the BJP president’s remark on secular¬ism, the Congress said that the opposition party was trying to undermine the secular fabric of the country. “Behind the muk¬hautta (mask), this is the real BJP. They have no right to exist as a political party if they do not subscribe to the basic tenets of the Constitution of India,” AICC spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters in New Delhi.





BJP focus on regaining lost ground in UP



Recognising that the party must mend its fortunes in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP organised a meeting of state-level office bear¬ers in Lucknow on June 5 to take stock of the party’s prepara¬tions in the politically crucial state which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha. Reports say that the BJP is banking on two different layers of anti-incumbency, the right caste-mix in the selection of candidates and the impact of the delimitation exer¬cise to propel its forward march in the state.



Simultaneously, the party has begun the process of clearing potential candidates in the state and is hopeful of coming out with a preliminary list in two months time.



BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley, who attended the meet¬ing, said that the party has come up with some ideas on how to get back the wide support it enjoyed in the state ten years ago.



On the anti-incumbency factor, the BJP hopes that with the right caste combination, it can benefit from the two layers of anti-incumbency, one against the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and the other against the Mayawati government in the state. The BJP also feels that with delimitation, the profiles of many constituencies have changed, with quite a few of them acquiring a distinctive urban flavour. This, the BJP hopes, will work out in its favour, as it happened in Karnataka.



The Assembly poll last year, a senior BJP leader argued, was on an anti-Mulayam Singh Yadav platform. There was an undercur¬rent among the people against the Samajwadi Party government. “By positioning her party as the most powerful anti-SP force, BSP chief Mayawati walked away with a majority of the anti-Mulayam votes,” the BJP leader said.



The BSP has been in power in the state for over a year now, and BJP leaders feel that notwithstanding the successes notched up by Mayawati’s party in the by-elections held recently, the state government’s honeymoon period has ended. Important sections such as jats (zamindars) and the trading community had turned against the BSP and were looking for alternative political destinations, BJP state leaders feel.



“The next round of elections in the state will be fought on the basis of anti-incumbency factor against the Mayawati govern¬ment with issues such as price rise, terrorism and farmers’ problems which flow directly from the Manmohan Singh government’s mismanagement thrown in”, said another BJP leader.



Observers say, the party is also watching with keen interest the change in equations between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, and reckons that SP-Congress alliance was a sure recipe of making L.K Advani the country’s next Prime Minister.



Besides leading to the death of UNPA, the decision by the two parties to snuggle closer to each other may lead to a radical change in voter preferences at the local level. “While the Mus¬lims are likely to ally behind any such alliance, it may lead to a counter-consolidation along religious lines,” sources in the party indicated.



State party leaders, reports say, demanded that the BJP declare its candidates early to help them cover the lost ground. The view was that at least in constituencies where candidates are more or less known and identified, the party should declare their names officially.





No decision on Sushil Modi’s fate



The BJP leadership is yet to take a final decision on the fate of its Bihar leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi. The party had two rounds of consultations in New Delhi on June 4, the first at the residence of party president Rajnath Singh and the second at the home of the party’s prime-ministerial candidate L.K. Advani. The party has now decided to ascertain the views of all its MLAs and MLCs before deciding Sushil Modi’s fate.







The crisis has arisen as Sushil Modi refused to resign from his position while the dissidents claimed that he no longer enjoyed the confidence of the state unit. Modi, however, claimed that he still enjoyed the confidence of a majority of party legislators. The dissidents have been blaming Sushil Modi for the erosion of the party base in Bihar over the last few years.