Packaging Advani in Modi mould, BJP readies for bigger poll battle

Drawing lessons from the Gujarat elections, the BJP will build up a campaign on the twin issues of development and internal security for the next elections.

Drawing lessons from the Gujarat elections, the BJP will build up a campaign on the twin issues of development and internal security for the next elections. The party also will try to make L K Advani a national equivalent of Narendra Modi8212;8221;a strong leader8221;.

A meeting of party8217;s senior leaders at Advani8217;s residence on Saturday, attended also by Modi, decided to capitalise on the enthusiasm among workers following victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Party president Rajnath Singh, M M Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Arun Shourie, Ananth Kumar, Ramlal, Ravishanker Prasad and Chandan Mitra were present in the meeting.

More such meetings will follow to fine-tune the party strategy for the next Lok Sabha elections. Saturday8217;s meeting, which leaders described as 8220;preliminary8221;, discussed a three-fold approach. First, the projection of a strong and effective leader in the form of L K Advani. The party feels that the 8220;current weak Prime Minister is out of touch with a resurgent India8221;.

Secondly, the BJP will strengthen itself organisationally and seek to strengthen the NDA, even trying to induct new constituents. And thirdly, the party will build a campaign based on development and security issues in the context of a fast-growing nation. The meeting felt that the assassination of Benazir Bhutto had illustrated the real threat of terrorism to the entire region.

Modi told the meeting on how to bring in an emotional quotient to development propaganda. He told colleagues that educating girl child or bringing down school dropout could be converted to gainful political agenda if presented properly. The party will, therefore, invest a lot of energy and thinking on its communication strategy for the next elections.

The BJP will also expose 8220;failure of the UPA Government on different fronts, especially farming, inflation and national security8221;. Regional meetings will be organised while the party is in the process of identifying its winnable Lok Sabha seats to concentrate its energy there.