BJP house panel debates poll preparations

All decisions will be taken by the party's parliamentary board till the Lok Sabha elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership has decided that till the Lok Sabha elections are held, all decisions will be taken by its parliamentary board, the highest decision making body.

With the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) taking the ordinance route for putting into law its food security programme, the BJP leadership believes the main opposition party should be ready for a sudden call to elections.

A section of the leadership also feels Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, also the head of its election campaign committee, should be announced as the prime ministerial candidate before the Lok Sabha election.

However, there is a division within the BJP on whether it should announce a PM candidate or not. The parliamentary board met here on Monday, with all members except former party chief Nitin Gadkari present. L K Advani, the seniormost, told the members the party should form all committees and assign work to these at the earliest. Preferably, before the body’s next meeting, scheduled for next week.

“It was suggested work be assigned only to those who can give at least six to 12 months to the party. All parliamentary board members have asked Rajnath Singh (the president) and Modi to start assigning work to the members at the national and state level. Decisions will be discussed in the parliamentary board before an announcement,” said a senior.

“The entire election campaign of the party will be divided in two phases. The first phase will deal with assembly elections in five states and the second phase will focus on the Lok Sabha election. Different groups will be formed to prepare the manifesto and public meetings at parliamentary constituencies,” said Ananth Kumar, member.

While most members agreed Modi would remain the ‘face’ of the campaign, others should also be given prominence. Modi, after targeting Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the party’s erstwhile ally, is headed for Pune on Sunday to speak before party workers there. The meet decided the BJP should focus on the issues of good governance, price rise, the state of the economy and development,as the Congress is seen to be on the defensive on these issues.

Advani felt a group should be formed to work on party literature and another to document the performance of BJP-ruled states in comparison to Congress-rules ones.