BJP prepares for electoral battle

NEW DELHI: As the buzz about early general elections gets louder, the BJP has stepped up efforts to get battle-ready.

The party���s central election management committee convenor M Venkaiah Naidu has started meeting leaders in batches, eliciting their views on issues such as identifying campaign themes, strategy, alliance-formation and candidate selection.

In the past two days, Mr Naidu held a series of meetings. He met the party���s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Thursday morning to apprise him of the outcome of his discussions. The BJP hopes to be ready with its first list of about 250 candidates, including 50-60 from Uttar Pradesh, by July.

Their names may not be announced officially, but the candidates identified in the process are likely to be informed about their selection discreetly so as enable them to kick off their campaign straightaway.

A meeting of the full central election management committee has been convened here on June 26 to deliberate on the process. State units and their prabharis (in-charge) are, in the meanwhile, being asked to identify seats where there are no conflicts over candidate-selection.

The party has zeroed down on three ���I���s (inflation, internal security and ���incompetence��� of the Manmohan Singh government) as its main talking-points in the run-up to the elections which, BJP managers reckon, may be held later this year. The three central themes, according to sources in the party, will be supplemented by the stability plank, Advani Vs ? argument and local factors so as to prepare a winnable cocktail.

The BJP���s top strategists are gearing up to project Mr Advani as a brand. "While the NDA has already declared the former deputy prime minister as its prime ministerial candidate, there is a mystifying silence in the UPA camp over the leadership issue. Will it be Mr Manmohan Singh? Will it be Mr Rahul Gandhi? The country would like to know," pointed out a senior leader involved in the deliberations.

With decades of experience behind him, Mr Advani is expected to be projected as a leader with the right blend of strong nationalist credentials, a proven governance and development track-record and clean image. "The UPA simply does not have any leader in its ranks to match his stature," the BJP leader contended.

Aware that its organisational health was not exactly in good shape in a string of states, the party brass has identified several regional outfits as prospective alliance partners. They include INLD, AIADMK and AGP. Then there are parties which are being seen as probable post-poll allies.

They include Trinamool Congress, TDP and even parties at present with UPA that would not hesitate to cross over. The party has entrusted the task of winning over new partners to the NDA fold to a team comprising Ms Sushma Swaraj, Mr Arun Jaitley and Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, besides Mr Naidu.

The BJP has also planned a series of rallies across country as part of its campaign build-up. The first such public meeting is being held in Kanpur in the politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh on June 27. "We���re planning rallies in such a manner that Mr Advani would, by the end of it all, have addressed a meeting in every 5-6 Lok Sabha constituencies," the BJP leader said.