BJP national meet to discuss polls, terrorism

By Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi, IANS

New Delhi : A resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will discuss its strategy for the 2009 general election as well as the spurt in terror activities across the country at its National Council meeting here Jan 27-28.


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Though the party will make a formal announcement on the meet’s agenda only in the coming week, insiders said the BJP state units had been asked to prepare a list of themes they wanted to be discussed in the meeting.

“It is going to be an important meeting. I cannot say more on the issue at the moment,” party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told IANS.

However, a party source said: “The rising number of terror attacks in the recent past, especially in Uttar Pradesh, will be discussed prominently. Both the central government and the non-BJP ruled states have been too soft in tackling terrorism.”

The meet will also prepare a blueprint of the BJP’s plans for the Lok Sabha elections, due in May 2009.

When asked whether the assembly polls in 10 states slated for this year would also figure in the discussions, the source said: “That will be automatically covered when the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections is discussed.”

A strategy for Karnataka and Nagaland, which will be the first states to go to the polls this year, will also be on the agenda.

The BJP is hopeful of coming back to power in Karnataka after the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) failed to keep its side of the bargain and refused to support a short-lived BJP-led government in November 2007.

“We are confident of forming a government in Karnataka after the next assembly elections,” Javadekar said.

In Nagaland, the BJP has cried foul about the manner in which the central government imposed President’s rule Wednesday, declaring Neiphiu Rio’s administration illegal.

“When the state is just two months away from assembly elections, there was no need to impose President’s rule there,” senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

The meet will also discus how to address factionalism in the Rajasthan unit and combat anti-incumbency in the state. Party sources said the BJP leadership was worried about widespread dissidence in the Rajasthan unit against Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

A proposal from Uma Bharati, a former party leader who launched her own party, to contest the Madhya Pradesh elections together will also be on the agenda.

While some BJP leaders feel Uma Bharati may be a spent force as her Bharatiya Janashakti Party has not won an election till now, Madhya Pradesh is her home turf and she has been a BJP chief minister there. If her party contests the polls alone, it could make a dent in BJP votes.

The party is upbeat after winning elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh in December.

A party leader said, “We could beat anti-incumbency in Gujarat and will do so in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh too. And don’t forget that the Congress is in a bad shape in these states and so there is no alternative to the BJP.”

The BJP’s stand on reservation of seats in legislative bodies for women will also be tabled for discussion at the meeting, the sources said.

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