BJP going through a 'bad patch', says Advani

MUMBAI: Embarrassed over the fallout of the sting operations on the party's image, BJP President L K Advani on Wednesday said it was going through a 'bad patch' and had to reverse the 'distressing descent' of some members.

In an apparent attempt to galvanise the party, he also said that it was not necessary that the next Lok Sabha elections would be held only after five years and if they are held early "BJP should not be found wanting".

Maintaning that the charge that BJP has fallen victim to Congressisation cannot be denied, he said the party has done remarkably good in the past 25 years but was passing through a bad patch in the past 25 weeks.

Advani was delivering his presidential address at the BJP National Covention to mark its silver jubilee a day after RSS pointsman Sanjay Joshi resigned as party General Secretary after the surfacing of a VCD that purportedly showed him in a compromising position.

Advani also dared Sonia Gandhi to come clean on the Volcker Committee revelations on Iraq's ‘Oil-for-Food’ programme or resign as the head of the National Advisory Council.

Asking party cadres to gear themselves up for the eventuality of a fresh poll, Advani, in his Presidential address to the three-day BJP National Convention, accused the Congress and its 'ruling dynasty' of being the fountainhead of all corruption in the country.

''While that does not justify the actions of some of our own members in the recent scandal involving Parliamentarians, it reinforces our conviction that unless the Congress culture is uprooted lock, stock and barrel from our system, the task of combating corruption will never be accomplished,'' the BJP chief said in his 18-page speech to more than 4000 party delegates.

Advani said the Volcker report had only reinforced the Congress utter disregard for probity in public life. ''It is the responsibility of every member of the BJP to carry this shameless tale of sleaze to every corner of India and mobilize people to demand an explanation,'' he added.