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Advani hints at changes in govt and party leadership

"There has been a slackening of discipline in the party. The prime minister and party president have to decide on the issue of giving effect to a reshuffle to strengthen the government and the party," Advani told a press conference in Panaji.

This is a big comedown for the BJP, which once prided itself as a disciplined party.

"Sometimes we ignore acts of indiscipline, which is not good. Indiscipline has to be firmly dealt with to strengthen the government and the party," he added.

On the Ayodhya dispute, he said that either a negotiated settlement should be reached or people should wait for the court verdict.

Earlier, addressing the BJP national executive committee, he had ruled out any deviation from the NDA's National Agenda for Governance.

"Of late, there has been some speculation that the BJP could abandon the common manifesto of the NDA and go back to its own agenda. This will not happen. The BJP, which is the main component of the NDA, will remain faithful to the coalition's common agenda," he had said.

However, "we need not be apologetic about our ideological moorings," Advani told mediapersons.

Stating that on the whole the NDA government had been performing well, he admitted it was 'not good enough' and that it had not been able to meet the expectations of the people.

While both development and security were important for the country, Advani said he gave more importance to security in view of the terrorism problem in some parts of the country.

He pointed out that despite having lost 61,000 lives in the past two decades due to terrorist activities, it was 'unfortunate' that India was the only nation to have enacted an anti-terror law in a joint sitting of Parliament whereas other nations, which have respect for civil liberties, 'adopted such laws unanimously'.

He said a joint sitting was necessitated by the 'attitude of the main opposition party (Congress), which stems from its vote bank politics'. He pointed out that 'even more draconian laws have been passed by Congress-ruled states'.

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