BJP ‘prepares’ for elections

NEW DELHI: Seeking to project itself as an organised and efficient unit at the expense of a crises-ridden UPA, the BJP on Thursday announced its first list of candidates for the next Lok Sabha elections.

Projecting veteran leader LK Advani as its prime ministerial candidate who will contest from his old constituency of Gandhinagar in Gujarat, the saffron party came out with a list of six names  in what can be termed as a political jeer directed at the Congress-led UPA government.

There has been speculation that the Congress and the Left may part ways over the Indo-US nuclear deal, precipitating early elections, which are otherwise due early next year.

Besides Advani, other names in the first list are Navjot Singh Sidhu (Amritsar), Vinod Khanna (Gurdaspur), Shripad Naik (Panaji), Anurag Thakur (Hamirpur) and TPS Rawat (Pauri).

The decision to announce the first list was taken at t he meeting of central election committee (CEC) in New Delhi on Thursday, said BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar.  

The CEC chaired by party chief Rajnath Singh was followed by a meeting of the central election management committee and the party’s core group.

“The present political scenario and the ensuing instability in the Centre was discussed threadbare. The core group also delved upon the situation arising if the Manmohan Singh government was reduced to a minority,” said a BJP leader.

Apart from Advani and Singh, the meetings were attended by senior leaders like Venkaiah Naidu, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Anant Kumar and Sushma Swaraj. Party representatives from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Goa units were also present.

Justifying the announcement of list, Naidu said, “Today we have formally started the process so that the states too understand the seriousness and the intention of the central party. And they also prepare themselves. Our idea is to finish the process by the end of August.”

The party’s campaign will start on Friday with Advani addressing a rally in Kanpur - the first in the revived ‘Vijay Sankalp’ series.

Though the focus has been on projecting the BJP as a moderate and inclusive party rather than just a Hindu outfit, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is also involved actively in this rally. VHP president Ashok Singhal and general secretary Praveen Togadia have reportedly been camping in the city for last two days to lend support to the rally.