Poll dates on Jan 14, victory by April, courtesy Sonia: mood at BJP meet

On the eve of the party’s crucial national executive, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan said that the dates for the Lok Sabha polls...

On the eve of the party’s crucial national executive, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan said that the dates for the Lok Sabha polls would be known by January 14, Makar Sankranti. He also spelt out one of the party’s key campaign issues: Sonia Gandhi’s ‘‘ability and nationality’’.

‘‘By Pongal, you will know the fate of the present Lok Sabha. We want early polls. If dissolution takes place by January-end or first week of February, elections can be announced by February 15. By March-end or early April, election process could be completed,’’ he told a press conference.

Mahajan said the NDA, fighting the election under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, will focus on three issues: leadership, stability and performance.

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The BJP general secretary said Vajpayee’s leadership was obviously head and shoulders above the rest. Congress leaders were mortgaged to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, but they had been long forgotten. He sought to make Sonia Gandhi’s foreign-origin a poll issue, arguing that her nationality and ability would naturally be questioned in the elections.

He said, ‘‘There is no captain, there is no team and some kind of hotch-potch combination is there.’’

‘‘Nowhere in the world has a person of foreign origin occupied the highest position. We have no objection to her becoming Congress chief or leader of the Opposition,’’ he said. Asked about the possibility of a BJP tie-up with Jayalalitha, he said, ‘‘As things stand at this point in time, no direct contact has been established with her.’’ Regarding former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, he said: ‘‘There is no proposal from his side nor an invitation from our side.’’

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