By IANS
New Delhi : Conceding that the image of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a disciplined party has suffered in recent times, its president Rajnath Singh Monday asked party cadres not to become "instruments" of the media and to keep organisational matters within the party.
Addressing the party national executive on the first day of its two-day meeting, he said: "I will not hesitate in saying that over the last few years our image as a party with a difference has been affected. This is a subject of concern for all of us.
"We have to protect the organisation from ego, being self-centric, indisciplined and all those factors because of which politics is losing its respect in society," Rajnath Singh said.
"One finds that what should be shared internally with the leadership is instead reaching the party through the media," he said. "We need not become instruments of the competitive struggle of the media."
The BJP president called upon fellow members of the party's highest decision-making body that "it is imperative to enhance the feeling of mutual faith, collectiveness, credibility, principles, spirit of accommodation and coordination within the organization. At our own level it is important that we all work in this direction."
He exhorted the leaders of the main opposition party not to lose heart by their defeat in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Goa this year.
Rajnath Singh recalled what Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of BJP's predecessor Jan Sangh, had said: "No matter what the outcome of the elections be, our organisation even thereafter will remain ceaselessly progressive and will carry the message of hope to all sections of society."
He said, "Instead of disappointment we should treat the Uttar Pradesh results as an opportunity to make us more alert and stable.
"We will treat the polling booth as our base and expand the organisational work accordingly. A team of workers should be formed at each booth. Without this we will not be able to make the organisation effective or fast-moving."
Rajnath Singh set up a committee headed by Sushma Swaraj to examine the possibility of reserving 33 percent organisational posts in the party for women.
He said, "I am requesting the national executive to consider this issue in detail so that we can bring about the required changes in our party constitution for reserving 33 percent representation for women."