By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking on the troika of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, veteran leader L.K. Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to capture votes in the Oct 13 assembly elections in three states.
Vajpayee, 84, has not been well for a while and did not contest the April-May Lok Sabha elections. So the party will use the audio CDs and cassettes of his recorded speeches and poems for campaigning in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.
“We will play recorded speeches of Vajpayeeji during our election campaigns besides distributing audio CDs and cassettes among people,” a senior BJP functionary told IANS Saturday.
The party is banking on Vajpayee’s charisma especially in Maharashtra, where it along with ally Shiv Sena is looking to oust the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance that has been in power for a decade. The BJP also misses a strong leader like Pramod Mahajan who was killed in 2006.
No wonder Vajpayee’s face is seen prominently on BJP posters in Maharashtra.
“Vajpayeeji will not be able to participate in campaigning, so we have decided to issue his appeals and poems in the form of press releases seeking vote for the party,” the functionary added.
Moreover, the BJP will also press into service its top leader Advani, who is leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Modi and Varun Gandhi, the young MP from Pilibhit who made news with his hate speeches in the run-up to the Lok Sabha campaign.
“Varun Gandhi will also be canvassing for us,” the functionary said, without divulging further details.