BJP goes soft, drops key issues
R R Nair in New Delhi
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies today decided to drop
all contentious issues from the proposed 'national agenda' and set
up a coordination committee to draft it for the smooth functioning
of a possible BJP-led coalition government at the Centre.
The BJP will also not stake its claim to form the government, but will wait for an invitation from the President to invite it by virtue of being the single largest party in the new Lok Sabha.
The decision was taken at a two-hour meeting of the BJP and its
allies, held at the 7, Safdarjang Lane home of BJP prime ministerial
candidate Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The meeting was inconclusive and the leaders of these parties
will meet again on Monday, March 9, to give a final shape to the national
agenda.
Talking to reporters immediately after the meeting, Biju Janata
Dal leader Naveen Patnaik said it had been decided to drop "all
contentious issues" from the agenda.
BJP spokesman Jaswant Singh said there was unanimity at the
meeting about adopting the national agenda.
He said the discussion at the meeting was initiated by BJP
president L K Advani on the basis of a paper circulated among the
representatives of all parties. This paper was drafted by the
combined efforts of the BJP and its pre-poll partners.
The contentious issues include abrogation of Article 370 of the
Constitution, contruction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya, and
introduction of a Uniform Civil Code.
Jaswant Singh said the coordination committee would consist of
representatives of the BJP and its pre-poll allies to ensure the
smooth functioning of a possible BJP-led coalition government.
He also told Rediff On The NeT, "There are no contentious issues. I am not going into the details, it is a principle of national agenda for governance. And the national agenda would be adopted with unanimous agreement of all the allies."
Among those who attended today's meeting besides Vajpayee
were: Advani, Jaswant Singh, V R Nedunchezhian
(AIADMK), Bansi Lal (Haryana Vikas Party), Parkash Singh Badal
(Akali Dal), Madhukar Sarpotdar (Shiv Sena), George Fernandes
(Samata Party), Ramakrishna Hegde (Lok Shakti), Patnaik
(Biju Janata Dal)and V K Ramamurthy (Tamizh Rajiv Congress).
Singh explained that Pankaj Bannerjee of the Trinamual
Congress could not reach the venue in time due to the death of
a party worker in Calcutta.
The national agenda would be the culmination of the effort which began officially in December last year. When the party's national executive met for three days in Bhubaneswar from December 19, it was decided that none of the contentious issues would be raised in the ensuing election.
The basis of the national agenda would be the presidential address delivered after A B Vajpayee assumed office in 1996, before he was voted out in just 13 days.
In 1996, in an apparent bid to desperately woo friends, the BJP had chalked out a future course of action that was surprisingly silent about its Hindutva agenda.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who with 12 MPs under his belt, is being wooed by both the United Front and the BJP.
BJP sources confirmed that the Telugu Desam Party chief has not met any BJP leader so far, and said that so far the talks have been through emissaries and that "it will send the wrong signals if Naidu meets Vajpayee today". "It is not necessary as this has already been settled," the sources said.
BJP's vice-president Bangaru Laxman told Rediff On The NeT, "It is difficult for Naidu, being the UF convener, to make a U-turn and support the BJP. There are two options before him, either to abstain from voting, or to give outside support to a BJP government."
Similarly, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's turnaround from its earlier stand of supporting a Congress-led government is viewed by the BJP as an attempt to placate its prospective federal government.
Before the meeting, when asked whether the BJP and its allies would stake a claim to form
the government, Vajpayee, who was flanked by leaders of the
allies, said, "We have not given thought to that matter."
On whether the BJP had got the requisite number of MPs to form
the government, he said the process was on.
Earlier, at the end of meeting of its office-bearers this morning, the BJP observed in a resolution that 'the people's mandate should be respected. No attempts should be
made to negate this mandate'.
Emphasising the need for a responsive government, the party said
it would seek the "co-operation of everybody to provide the nation
an efficient, clean and stable government".
The mandate was against the Congress's corruption and the UF's
non-governance. It was also democracy's vote against dynastic
hegemony and a vote for "our constructive, pro-people programmes
and policies".
"We are seen as the only party that can provide a stable, clean
and efficient government at the Centre," the party said and
expressed confidence that it would be able to keep its promises.
The party was optimistic that it would put the economy back on
the rails, end confrontationism in society and politics and enable
India to stride into the 21st century as a strong and prosperous
nation.
Party spokesperson Sushma Swaraj
categorically denied that AIADMK leader Jayalalitha had put forth any
pre-conditions for extending support or joining the BJP-led
government. She was asked to comment on reports that Jayalalitha
was insistent on making Dr Subramanian Swamy the new finance
minister.
Replying to a question about Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's
threat of a civil war if the BJP was not called upon to form the
government at the Centre, Swaraj said, "We do not agree with that
statement."
She said a special session of party officials
would be convened later to find out the reasons for the party's
debacle in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, which finds no mention in the
resolution.
The resolution said the BJP had entered the electoral fray with
Vajpayee as the party's prime ministerial candidate. Neither the UF
nor the Congress was able to come up with an alternative
choice -- simply because they did not have a leader "who could equal
Shri Vajpayee".
The Congress, the resolution said, tried to play the dynasty
card, but failed. "What was touted as that party's unique selling
proposition turned out to be a myth."
The meeting, called to take stock of the current political
situation, thanked its allies -- the Samata Party, Shiv Sena,
Shiromani Akali Dal, Haryana Vikas Party, the AIADMK front led by
J Jayalalitha, Biju Janata Dal, Lok Shakti and Trinamul
Congress -- for making possible this splendid collective
performance.
The resolution noted that the party had broken new geographical
and social grounds by winning seats in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
West Bengal and Orissa. "Along with Lok Shakti, we made a clean sweep of
Karnataka."
Describing its performance in West Bengal, from where it won one
seat, the resolution observed, 'We are once again back in the
state that gave us our founder president, Dr Shyama Prasad
Mookerjee.'
Additional reportage: UNI
Elections '98
Tell us what you think of this report
|