The Hindu : National : Kalyan Singh swears by collective leadership

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Saturday, Sep 16, 2006
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National

Kalyan Singh swears by collective leadership

Atiq Khan

`Willing to take blame for failure in U.P. polls'

Kalyan Singh

LUCKNOW : Emphasising that the Bharatiya Janata Party had emerged as a strong alternative to form the next government in Uttar Pradesh, the former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh on Friday said it would contest next year's Assembly elections under the BJP's collective leadership.

Rejecting BJP president Rajnath Singh's decision to project him as the shadow Chief Minister in the elections, Mr. Kalyan Singh laid stress on the collective responsibility of seeing the party through in the battle of the ballot.

Addressing the concluding session of a daylong meeting of the State executive, party office-bearers and frontal organisations here, Mr. Singh said the credit for the BJP's success would go to all and he would be responsible if it failed to win the polls. He said the elected representatives would select the Chief Minister.

Mr. Singh ruled out the possibility of the BJP supporting any other party in government formation. The BJP would prefer to sit in the opposition if it failed to get a majority.

Mr. Singh also dismissed the probability of the BJP entering into electoral alliance. Recounting the party's tie-up with the Bahujan Samaj Party thrice in the past, he said on all the occasions the BJP was the loser as the objective of wooing the Dalits was defeated.

He said he had always emphasised that instead of taking the help of others direct contact should be established with the target audience.

The BJP experienced the same dilemma when it entered into alliance with RLD president Ajit Singh as the Jats went over to the Lok Dal.

Mr. Singh prescribed aggressive "Hindutva" as antidote for "Islamisation of politics" and "Muslim appeasement." Cultural nationalism and social justice for all were the other remedies.

The 15-point programme for minorities and exempting Muslim institutions from reserving seats for the SCs, the STs and the OBCs were examples of appeasement politics.

Mr. Singh exhorted his partymen to sink their differences.Indiscipline would not tolerated. Groupism in the party needed to be ended.

Earlier, the meeting was inaugurated by BJP State unit president Kesari Nath Tripathi, who assailed the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government for the "gamut of problems" faced by the people and the deteriorating law and order situation.

A political resolution adopted in the meeting expressed concern at the situation in the State and demanded that the present government be dismissed and President's rule imposed.

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