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With controversies dogging several leading lights of the BJP, it was time party strongman L.K. Advani got into battle-gear to lead the defen...

With controversies dogging several leading lights of the BJP, it was time party strongman L.K. Advani got into battle-gear to lead the defence. And, he did so in full measure here today. The occasion was a one-day meet of the Delhi BJP at the Talkatora Stadium.

He charged that the Opposition, demoralised over the NDA government8217;s stability, had mounted a campaign aimed at character assassination of BJP leaders. 8216;

8216;Whether it is Advani, Narendra Modi, Pramod Mahajan, Ram Naik or Ananth Kumar, they have to say something or the other, correct or incorrect, against them.8217;8217;

He warned the Opposition that it would ultimately harm them in the long run. Referring to Modi, Advani said it did not behove the Congress to indulge in cheap criticism. He cited an opinion poll carried out recently by a TV channel, which had concluded that Modi was the second most popular Chief Minister in the country.

Modi, he underlined amidst cheers, would return to power after the polls, no matter when they were held. He said that he could state this as he represented a constituency of Gujarat in Parliament.

He, however, avoided criticising the Election Commission decision on the Gujarat polls.

Advani described allegations over petrol pump and land allotments as baseless and trivial and in an obvious allusion to the Congress pointed out that 8216;8216;people living in glass houses should not throw stones at others.8217;8217;

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He pointed out that some 200 of the total 4,000 applicants had been allotted land as per procedures and sought to know if it was a crime giving plots to a handful of bodies linked to the RSS. Urban Development Minister Ananth Kumar was present on the dais.

Advani regretted that the prevailing 8216;8216;skepticism8217;8217; in public life had had a demoralising effect on the country. He said that some people often said that the Congress was on a come-back trial following the BJP defeat in many states.

However, there had been a change in the situation after the national executive committee meeting at Panjim in April. The BJP had recorded a victory in the subsequent Assembly elections in Goa.

Party chief M. Venkaiah Naidu conceded that indiscipline and factionalism had crept into the party which had paid for the twin phenomena with its defeats in various assembly polls

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Taking a cue from Advani, he accused the Congress of resorting to false propaganda against the BJP over so-called scams, ranging from Gujarat to petrol pumps, land allotments and the Shivani Bhatnagar case.

He termed the Congress as a 8216;8216;party of scams8217;8217; and asserted that there was no evidence of corruption against a single BJP minister. 8216;8216;We have done nothing wrong and you should not be on the defensive,8217;8217; he told partymen.