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Rahul Bose The new chief of the Bhartiya Janata Party, Bangaru Laxman , is the first Dalit president of a party which was known to have been dominated by upper caste politicians all these years. At present, he is giving the final touches to his team of office bearers.

In an exclusive interview with rediff.com, Laxman told Onkar Singh that he had no doubt Muslims would soon see reason and join the BJP en masse. "I have told party workers to visit the Muslims in their mohallas and invite them to join the party," Laxman said. He maintained that most of the political parties are jittery about his appointment as the BJP president. His call to Muslims has exposed the so-called secular parties, he said.

He also maintained that Vajpayee had always been the leader of the party, even when the party was not doing well. "He was our leader even when we had just two seats in the Lok Sabha and he was our leader when we had 186. He continues to be our leader. There is no question of showing any disrespect to Advaniji. He is one of senior leaders whose contribution to the rise of the party is significant," said Laxman.

Produced by SoundPicture Communications


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 Audio
  On the Sudarshan chakra
  On the BJP presidency
  On the UP factor
  On Bal Thackeray's reaction
  On BJP's track record
  On the Ayodhya issue
  The BJP women
  On Sushma Swaraj's ire
  Vajpayee vs Advani
  On the Kashmir issue
  On tackling Veerappan
  On the UP plan
     Read the interview