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This is an archive article published on December 1, 1998

BJP Delhi unit ordered back to Jhinjoli camp

NEW DELHI, November 30: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is taking its disenchanted Delhi unit for another soul-searching session to Jhin...

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NEW DELHI, November 30: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is taking its disenchanted Delhi unit for another soul-searching session to Jhinjoli. This time around the idea is to groom the cadre and the candidates who have won to play the Opposition role.

The Delhi unit is a little out of touch with Opposition politics, after being in power for five long years. Quite unlike the BJP’s national-level workers and leaders, who are now being blamed for not being able to discover the art of being the ruling party.

A matter-of-fact state party chief Mange Ram Garg said: “We’ve accepted defeat. Now we have to take the next step. That is why we decided to go for a two-day introspection camp where we’ll teach our workers how best to play the Opposition role. If the Congress carries on with our development we’ll cooperate and be a constructive opposition. If they don’t we’ll start our agitation.” The two-day closed-door session will give the workers a chance to air their views regarding the election strategies followed by leaders of the party that led to the debacle.

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The BJP plans to take up the price rise, which has been identified as the issue which led to its ouster, and beat the Congress with the same stick. The strategy of how best to utilise the issue in case of a mid-term general election is reportedly one of the primary goals of camp. The other issue which is likely to be discussed threadbare is how to best restore the party’s image in Delhi. “Madan Lal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma’s war of words and the way of they have issued statements against each other have badly damaged the party’s image. They played into the Congress hands,” a BJP candidate in the recent election said.

However, none of the two leaders are likely to attend the meetings. The pre-poll Jhinjoli camp was attended by both Khurana and Sahib Singh, even if it was for a few hours.

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