The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked the United Progressive Alliance government not to postpone the assembly elections in Karnataka.
Leader of the Opposition Lal Kishenchand Advani's statement came at a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance where the coalition partners endorsed him as the prime ministerial candidate.
The statement was significant in view of the fact that there was still confusion over whether the assembly polls will be held in re-drawn constituencies or as per the current assembly seats.
If they are held as per re-drawn constituencies, then some more time would be needed to conduct the polls and there is a feeling in the opposition circles that the Congress needed time to get its act together.
At the meeting, Advani identified winning the coming assembly elections in as many as ten states as the immediate task before the opposition alliance.
"Our immediate task is to prepare ourselves for success in the several Vidhan Sabha elections scheduled to be held in 2008. The earliest is going to be in Karnataka where the Congress must be defeated," Advani said.
Talking about Karnataka polls, he said, "I urge the government not to think of any ploy to postpone them."
Preparing to take the Congress-led UPA Government head on, the opposition alliance also decided to convene a meeting of its nine chief ministers soon on the agenda of good governance, development and internal security.