The national executive of the BJP said here on Sunday that the National Democratic Alliance led by the party was the only credible alternative to a ‘defunct’ UPA. But it did not take cognisance of the formula advocated by senior leader L.K. Advani for long that it was imperative for the BJP to work towards a scenario of NDA-plus if it wanted to ensure a viable government.
In his concluding address at the party’s National Council meeting in New Delhi in March, Mr. Advani had said that to oust the UPA, the BJP must work closely with all like-minded parties, both those within and outside the NDA, to reassure the people that a strong, viable non-Congress alternative, with an agreed agenda of good governance, was available before them.
He had also spoken on the need for the party to reach out to minorities. “I am heartened to point out in this context that a number of Muslim leaders have begun to see through the self-serving propaganda of the Congress. A good example is the recent comment of Mahmood Madani, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, praising the performance of the BJP government in Gujarat.”
In Panaji, a political resolution adopted on the concluding day of the national executive made a perfunctory reference to the NDA. Even the usual reference on how the BJP should aim to expand its support base among the SCs/STs and minorities was missing. It chiefly targeted the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for the “defective structure of leadership” and criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “not a strong leader who was not free to take decisions.”
Tabled by the former BJP president, Nitin Gadkari, the resolution was seconded by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Both Chief Ministers accused the UPA government of discriminating against the BJP-ruled States in particular, and non-Congress government States in general.
Mr. Parrikar sought special economic status for Goa to protect its identity.
