The Hindu : BJP reviews poll strategy for 4 States

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 18, 2003

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National

BJP reviews poll strategy for 4 States

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 17. A number of election-related issues, especially the question of projecting the chief ministerial candidates in Delhi and Chhattisgarh, were discussed at a meeting between the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, the Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, and the general secretary in-charge of elections, Pramod Mahajan, here this evening. The political situation in four States was reviewed at the hour-long meeting.

While the party had decided that Uma Bharti will be the chief ministerial candidate in Madhya Pradesh and Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan, a similar clarity is not there with respect to Delhi and Chhattisgarh. This issue is expected to be sorted out at the highest levels of the party, a senior party leader said, even as he indicated that "in all probability'' the man for the top job would be Madanlal Khurana, Delhi unit chief of the party. A formal announcement may be made in a few days. One opinion was that a change at this juncture could prove disastrous for the party in the capital. It was also felt that the Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, whose name has been mentioned as a replacement for Mr. Khurana as a chief ministerial candidate, may not be interested in "state-level politics'' when "he was already a major player at the national level''.

In Chhattisgarh, the contenders are, Dilip Singh Judev, who is as popular a leader, Ramesh Bains, MP from Raipur who had defeated V.C. Shukla, and Raman Singh, who has resigned his Ministerial position to lead the party's State unit. "If the party comes to the conclusion that there is a definite electoral advantage in projecting a chief ministerial candidate, we will do so, otherwise we may not,'' the senior party leader said.

After surveys in the four States where Assembly elections are scheduled later this year the BJP has come to the conclusion that the chance of winning is high in Rajasthan and low in Delhi, with Madhya Pradesh considered to be a better bet than Chhattisgarh. At the same time it is realised that even in Rajasthan the task of defeating the Gehlot Government will not be easy. The party is acutely conscious of the fact that even when it had the vice-president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, leading it in the State it was never able to get to the bare majority mark of 101 seats in an Assembly of 200.

The truck operators strike is another cause for worry, as people's perception is that the Centre is somehow responsible. These things can also have an impact on the elections, it is felt.

Over the next few weeks Mr. Mahajan is likely to set up election management committees in the four States, and the party is planning to do some homework on State election manifestos well ahead of schedule, so that it has enough time to popularise its programme.

Later this month, around April 28, Mr. Mahajan is likely to visit Chhattisgarh to acquaint himself with the ground realities in the State and possible election issues. Next month, around May 10, he has planned to visit Madhya Pradesh, and as for Rajasthan, he was there just recently during a meeting of the State executive committee.

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