ELECTIONS

'The voter wants direct contact with leaders'

By J P Mathur
May 13, 2004 12:34 IST

The results are not as per our expectations. It is yet to be analysed as to what really went wrong.

We can't say offhand right now, but my gut feeing, or perception, is that looking at the results in AP and now in the Lok Sabha, I feel the voter wants direct contact with the leaders; a sort of personal touch.

In both cases, AP and the Centre, high technology was employed for the election, right from the beginning. We began preparing analyses and on that basis the election strategy was formed.

On the other hand, the Congress did not use high tech methods and Sonia Gandhi and her friends went door to door, making a sort of personal rapport with the voter.

The NDA forming the government will depend on the discretion of the President. The normal procedure requires that the largest grouping before the election, fighting on a common agenda, is to be recognised as a group and a party. Group formation after the election, without any common program chalked out before the polls, shall not be recognised as a party.

So it will depend on the Rashtrapati's advisors, whether to call the NDA first or recognise the group formed after the election by the Congress as a party.

If we are asked to form a government, for that we have to decide now and in the background of the actual number of seats, the persons and the party.

Even if a Congress-led government is formed, I have my apprehensions over how long it will last. If it falls after a short time, we will come back with double the strength.

Will the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam come back to the NDA? It has already declared it will not come back. In case they change their mind, we will take proper cognisance.

We did not expect much from Tamil Nadu, despite the fact that Jayalalithaa is in the government. There has always been a lot of resentment against her government but we had no alternative but to go with her in Tamil Nadu.

BJP Vice-President J P Mathur appeared on the Rediff Election Chat from the BJP's national headquarters in New Delhi

J P Mathur
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