Mahajan gets it from Vajpayee

Vajpayee, sources said, mentioned Pramod Mahajan by name while criticising the election campaign. He said most Indians did not possess mobile phones and there was no point sending expensive posters through couriers without contacting ordinary party workers.

Vajpayee then recalled his first election for the Balrampur Lok Sabha seat back in 1957 when he had only two jeeps at his disposal to cover the entire constituency. But though the Jana Sangh was short of resources, it had no dearth of dedicated party workers, he said, adding 8216;8216;workers win us elections, not resources.8217;8217;

Vajpayee reportedly broke down while recalling those good old days of devoted workers and simple campaigns, and moved many of the delegates to tears as well. Not only did Vajpayee attack the Mahajan campaign model, he obliquely complimented the Congress party8217;s low-key and 8216;aam aadmi8217; focussed approach.

Without using the words 8216;aam aadmi,8217; Vajpayee told the party delegates that one major reason the BJP lost the elections was its failure to reach out to the poor. The BJP8217;s focus on achievements such as telecom and highways made little impact on the vast masses of poor and ordinary Indians who form the bulk of the voters, he said.

The party8217;s failure to take up 8216;8216;jeevan se aur mitti se judi mudeein issues relating to the everyday concerns of the people,8217;8217; had affected it badly, Vajpayee said. The party had won the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh precisely because it took up the issues of bijli, sadak, paani, and IT failed in the Lok Sabha polls because it moved away from these basics.

Vajpayee also disclosed that he himself had not been taken in by the opinion polls as well as the claims made by party leaders of a BJP victory. Advani had asked him in Lucknow during the course of his Bharat Uday Yatra whether the BJP would improve its tally and 8216;8216;I told him that my feeling was that we would get less seats, not more,8217;8217; Vajpayee said, underlining that all along his gut feeling was that the BJP would do far worse than everyone was expecting. Vajpayee, sources said, also praised the 8216;8216;impressive8217;8217; analysis of the poll defeat made by Advani and asked party members to study it carefully and draw lessons from it. However, whether this was an endorsement of Advani8217;s call to focus on the party8217;s 8216;8216;ideological constituency8217;8217; was not made explicit.

Vajpayee, on his part, did not make any mention of the Sangh Parivar or the party8217;s core constituency in his speech. Instead, by speaking against the party8217;s pro-rich image and the need to focus on 8216;basic issues,8217; Vajpayee reinforced the 8216;moderate8217; line now associated with his leadership. On the ideological front, he only repeated that he saw no difference between Hindutva and Bharatiyata, sources said.