BJP today virtually put itself in poll mode with leaders asking the cadres to present the party as a "strong, viable" alternative and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi taking the lead in attacking the Congress and the government.
On the third and final day of BJP conclave, its leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and party president Rajnath Singh, along with Modi, pressed for "internal cohesion" and united effort so that the party could wrest power from Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The party made it clear that it would target the government over issues like state of the economy, corruption, internal security and foreign policy.
Advani noted that the NDA has shrunk and there is a need to expand it by bringing more parties to its fold. He said the party needs to change its "mutual equation" with minorities, and emerge a "strong, viable non-Congress alternative".
Modi, who is being projected by some as the BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, attacked the Congress leadership for providing a weak "commission-seeking" government with "night watchman" Manmohan Singh at the helm.
He accused the Congress of sacrificing the nation's interest for the Gandhi family.
Equating Congress with "termites", he asked the cadres to sweat it out to throw out the UPA government.
"Congress is destroying this country like termites. It is very difficult to deal with termites - you finish them in one place and they rise in another.
"The only medicine for this ailment is sweat of the BJP worker. Only this sweat can free this nation from the termite that is the Congress," he said at the National Council, amid slogans like "Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Narendra Modi jaisa ho (The nation deserves a leader like Modi)".
However, at a time when Modi is being seen by some as BJP's Prime Ministerial face, Advani chose to shower praise on Swaraj and equated her oratorial skills with that of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
