By IANS,
New Delhi: Asking party workers to remain prepared for an early Lok Sabha election, BJP president Rajnath Singh Saturday also asked them to gear up for the chain of “crucial” assembly elections this year.
Speaking at the BJP national council meeting here, he also sought to address apprhensions among minorities over party’s Hindutva leanings while accusing the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of “all round failure” in addressing problems of people.
“The year 2013 is important for us. Karnataka is likely to face elections in May. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi will face elections in November. Jharkhand may also face elections this year. All these states are very important to us. The elections to Lok Sabha may also take place anytime,” Rajnath Singh said .
He said it could be last national council meeting before the Lok Sabha polls.
“It is clear that we all workers will have to gear up in preparations for the Lok Sabha when we go back to our respective place after the meeting with the resolve of victory in all the (assembly) elections and finally for the Lok Sabha,” he said.
The BJP chief expressed confidence that a BJP prime minister will unfurl tricolor from the Red Fort after the next general elections. “The 20th “century belonged to Congress and the 21st century will belong to the BJP”, he said.
Seeking to reach out to minorities who have shown less attraction for BJP in national elections over the last two decades, Rajnath Singh said his party has never discriminated on the basis of religion and caste in society.
“Hindutva is a way of life due to which all religions of the world exist in India,” he said.
He said there was anger among people over policies of Congress-led UPA government which had led to price-rise and they were looking for an alternative.
Referring to blasts in Hyderabad that killed 16 people, he said UPA was not capable of getting rid of the problem of terrorism.
Claiming GDP growth rate was coming down and the fiscal and current account deficit was widening, Rajnath Singh alleged that lakhs of crores of public money had been looted in coal block allocation, 2G spectrum other various other scams.
The latest controversy to hit the government related to “kickbacks” in helicopter deal, he added.
Rajnath Singh said the party looked up to senior leader L.K. Advani when it was faced with difficulty.
“If there is somebody who can guide us, it is Advani. When the country is passing through a difficult phase we don’t need to worry,” he said.
He also backed his predecessor Nitin Gadkari, adding the charges against him were totally false and fabricated but Gadkari took a decision not to take up the post again.
“So I took up the post. I know the accusations (against Gadkari) are totally baseless. I had assured him not to worry and that the entire country is with him. The party was strengthened by him,” he said.