BJP to woo Muslims
A Special Correspondent in Bhubaneswar
Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishinchand Advani today made another attempt to win over the Muslims.
Apparently dumping the Ayodhya temple issue from the agenda, Advani told the party's national executive meeting, ''Our list of candidates should fairly reflect the social composition of Indian society. We should make added efforts to identify deserving candidates from among religious minorities, especially Muslims.''
Stating that the BJP will replace the Congress in the mainstream
of Indian politics, Advani said ''stability based on shuchita (probity in public life) , suraksha (security for the country and the common man), samarasata (social harmony) and swadeshi (economic nationalism)'' would be the party's main agenda for the coming general election.
After clinching a strategic alliance with former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha Jayaram's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham in Tamil Nadu, the BJP is all set to have an understanding with Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal in Orissa.
Advani today called on former Orissa chief minister Biju Patnaik's widow and had a meeting with his son Naveen Patnaik, when '''the BJD showed its willingness to align with the BJP''.
The BJP's new thrust in south and east India seems to have inspired its soft stand towards the minorities. ''The south and the east are largely non-communal. So the Hindutva and Ayodhya plank would not go down well in these regions,'' a top BJP official said.
Significantly, Advani will kick off the BJP's pre-election
notification campaign at Kollam in Kerala on December 26. After
visiting Kannur, also in Kerala, he will go to Andhra Pradesh.
He will then travel to Tirunelveli for the AIADMK convention.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will simultaneously launch the party's campaign in the north from Rajkot in Gujarat.
Despite the secular talk, the BJP may not completely sideline the Ayodhya issue. ''It depends on the context. When Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh and party MP Uma Bharati make election speeches, they would surely refer to Ayodhya,'' a national executive member said.
The party's nationwide slogan would be ''stability
of the government and ability of the leader''.
''As the Congress does not have a prime ministerial candidate,
Vajpayee's candidature would brighten the party's chances and
people in the south and the east would be enamoured by the assurance
of stability,'' says national executive member Jagdish Shettigar.
The three-day national executive meeting, which began today, will evolve a strategy and thrust for the general election and will decide on the manifesto and campaign committees. It will also assess the situation in various states and pass a political resolution.
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