NEW DELHI, Mar 3:
BJP today virtually put itself in poll mode with leaders asking the cadres to present the party as a “strong, viable” alternative and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi taking the lead in attacking the Congress and the Government.
On the third and final day of BJP conclave, its leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and party president Rajnath Singh, along with Modi, pressed for “internal cohesion” and united effort so that the party could wrest power from Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The party made it clear that it would target the Government over issues like state of the economy, corruption, internal security and foreign policy.
Advani noted that the NDA has shrunk and there is a need to expand it by bringing more parties to its fold. He said the party needs to change its “mutual equation” with minorities, and emerge a “strong, viable non-Congress alternative”.
Modi, who is being projected by some as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, attacked the Congress leadership for providing a weak “commission-seeking” Government with “night watchman” Manmohan Singh at the helm.
He accused the Congress of sacrificing the nation’s interest for the Gandhi family.
Equating Congress with “termites”, he asked the cadres to sweat it out to throw out the UPA Government.
“Congress is destroying this country like termites. It is very difficult to deal with termites – you finish them in one place and they rise in another.
“The only medicine for this ailment is sweat of the BJP worker. Only this sweat can free this nation from the termite that is the Congress,” he said at the National Council, amid slogans like “Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Narendra Modi jaisa ho (The nation deserves a leader like Modi)”.
However, at a time when Modi is being seen by some as BJP’s Prime Ministerial face, Advani chose to shower praise on Swaraj and equated her oratorial skills with that of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Advani asked the cadres not to compromise on corruption within the party ranks and cautioned against the urge among some workers to be in the limelight at the cost of the party.
He also underlined the need for the party’s top leaders to bury their differences.
“We in the BJP take legitimate pride in the fact that we are a non-dynastic party that values and promotes internal democracy. But we must recognise that internal cohesion, specially at the top levels of the organisation, sustains internal democracy,” Advani told the cadres.
“If internal cohesion is allowed to be weakened by lack of internal discipline, which has always been the hallmark of the BJP and earlier the Jan Sangh, the party begins to project an image of an organisation suffering from internal differences,” the senior leader said.
Advani maintained that the political situation in the country today is “transmitting an unmistakable signal: The people want change”.
Modi drew attention to the scams in the UPA Government.
“The time has come to draw a comparison between the Congress and the BJP. While BJP is for a mission, Congress is for commission. The contest will be between mission and commission.”
He also exhorted the party cadre to work unitedly to bring BJP back to power at the Centre. “Who is the individual, who is the leader, does not matter in the BJP. The aim is important. We have no right to disappoint the people,” he said.
Advani asked the cadres to highlight the good governance and development in the BJP-NDA ruled states and the erstwhile Vajpayee Government to the people.
Modi was the most scathing among the BJP leaders in lashing out at the Congress.
“There is no feeling of whether there is a Government or not. It is not in the Congress character or in their blood to do something for the nation,” he said.
The Gujarat Chief Minister maintained that the time to throw out the Congress-led Government has come.
“My experience in Gujarat has been that the country has decided to move ahead. People of the country have decided to throw out the Congress. Our only concern is to fill the places vacated by the Congress with the right people,” Modi said.
Advani, who has been a strong votary of BJP having a clean image and a party with a difference, said there should be no compromise on corruption within the organisation.
He admitted that BJP had shown “slackness” in dealing with the corruption charges against the B S Yeddyurappa-led Government in Karnataka.
Referring to the time when Nitin Gadkari was the party president and allegations against Yeddyurappa surfaced, Advani said, “Without mincing words let me admit that our wavering and unprincipled handling of the situation in Karnataka caused great damage to our image.”
When the Yeddyurappa Government was indicted by the Karnataka Lokayukta in a graft case, Advani was firm that the chief minister should resign.
Advani had also put his foot down over giving a second term to Gadkari in January after there were allegations of financial irregularities against his Purti Group. (PTI)
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