The twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad are all spruced up to host Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The PM arrived at Hyderabad from New Delhi late on January 10 to attend the Bharatiya Janata Party's national executive meeting.
And everyone, but everyone, believes that it is probably his last visit to Hyderabad as PM of the 13th Lok Sabha. His next visit might be either to campaign after the current Lok Sabha is dissolved or, if he is reelected, as PM of the 14th Lok Sabha.
The BJP has thrown down the gauntlet and is seeking early elections by March end. In fact, by March 31, the party would like everything wrapped up and a new government sworn in by early April.
The general election is scheduled for October 2004.
Of course, the party went out of its way to assert that it was not making any such demands, but merely expressing an opinion.
"When elections are to be held is the prerogative of the Election Commission; and when the Lok Sabha should be dissolved is the prerogative of the prime minister," said BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar. "But we are merely going to give our suggestion to the BJP national executive committee that the elections should be held as early as possible."
Flush from its recent victories in the assembly elections, the BJP is keen to ride the pro-party wave and seek the people's mandate for another five years.
This is the first meeting of the BJP national executive, the party's highest policy making forum, after the assembly elections victory. The national executive comprises 152 members: all the state level top functionaries, party presidents, and general secretaries, and all the top office-bearers of the central committee, besides, of course, senior leaders such as Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. Party president M Venkaiah Naidu will chair the sessions.
The national executive is meeting at the Viceroy Hotel, which overlooks the magnificent Hussein Sagar lake, on January 11 and 12. Vajpayee, Advani, and Naidu, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, will also address a public rally at the Sardar Patel Parade Grounds on January 11.
As for the sessions, clearly the single issue that will dominate the discussions is when should the current Lok Sabha be dissolved.
Javadekar insisted that other matters too would be discussed. The spokesman said that three resolutions are expected to be adopted. "The first would be a political resolution, the second an economic resolution, and the third a resolution praising the prime minister and the government for their successes at the SAARC [South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation] summit in Islamabad," he said.
But for the media that has turned out in strength to attend the national executive, subsidized by the BJP that is paying their hotel bills, there is frankly only one news item: will the prime minister declare whether the current Lok Sabah will be dissolved to hold early elections?
Watch this space.
