Amid factionalism and bickering in the upper echelons of the party, senior BJP leaders have asked the rank and file to introspect on whether the party is geared to infusing confidence among people that it is a credible alternative to the UPA.
The tone and tenor of the speeches of the leaders on the second and last day of the party national executive here on Friday suggested that the truce between party president Nitin Gadkari and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and the decision of the former Karnataka Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, to participate in the national executive after a showdown with the central leadership are not sufficient to win people's confidence.
The former Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, who skipped the customary public rally to mark the close of the national executive, minced no words in articulating his views on the state of affairs.
He told delegates that when party leaders talked about the failure of the UPA government they were repeatedly confronted with the question, “Is the BJP ready”? Mr. Advani said complaints by sections of society about the failure of the BJP to fulfil the aspirations of people were to be taken as a ‘warning.'
“When the people are so much in pain and are looking to us with so many expectations, we should fulfil those expectations,” he said.
The senior leader emphasised need for the party to take measures to convince the people that the BJP was indeed the answer to the ‘inept, corrupt and incapable' UPA government.
On the opening day of the session, Mr. Gadkari himself was blunt in his message to the rank and file: while the mood of the people was decisively anti-Congress, the BJP could gain only if it set its house in order. “If we rise to their expectations, they will surely give us a mandate to form the next government and an opportunity to serve the nation.”
In his remarks on the Political Resolution, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said while the mess created by the UPA presented a challenge and opportunity to the BJP, it must prepare to be ‘cohesive and the ethical party' to give direction to the nation.
“The BJP must now be ready with a plan and direction to restore the national economy … The national mood of anti-Congressism must be exploited and the NDA expanded.”
The Political Resolution was equally candid. “It is our duty to rise to the occasion measure up to the expectation and assure the people of the country that the BJP indeed in the instrument which will redeem India.”
In the evening, Mr. Modi and Mr. Gadkari addressed the rally. Mr. Gadkari came to the venue earlier but waited for Mr. Modi to arrive so that they could take the podium together.
In his speech, Mr. Modi talked about the achievements of his government and how he liberated Gujarat from drought. “Had the NDA government been in power in Delhi today under the leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee, the people of Maharashtra would never have faced drought,” he said.
In a no-holds-barred attack on the UPA government, Mr. Gadkari declared that he had come to the rally to register a “case” against the Manmohan Singh-led government in the court of people. He compared the UPA government to Nirmal Baba, a controversial guru facing legal cases, and said “there are thousands of Nirmal Babas in the UPA government in giving the placebo effect for the miseries faced by the people.
