BJP STRATEGY
Font Size 
As polls near, BJP ready to stitch new alliances
Published on Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 22:24 in 
Tags: 
Related Stories
US sees 26/11 as model for future terrorism - Pak role in 26/11 attacks possible: Imran Khan
- India convinced of Pak army role in 26/11
- Delhi to run out of petrol by Friday evening
- Oil PSU strike continues, consumers bear the brunt
- Bringing Satyam auditor PwC to book may not be easy
- Biden to visit Pakistan today, may give India a skip
- Trinamool's Firoza Bibi wins Nandigram by-election
- Inflation declines to 10-month low, at 5.91 per cent
- Noida rape: Boy confesses, Panchayat says not guilty
Photogallery
 |  |
New Delhi: The Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal crisis is set to create new alignments across the political spectrum and the party most likely to benefit is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it has the momentum on its side.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the unusual role of the party's emissary has been doing what the soft-spoken Jaswant Singh used to do a decade ago.
After she announced her departure from the 13-month old Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led coalition in 1999, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief J Jayalalithaa has been labelled a difficult coalition partner. Modi has been trying to convince Jayalalithaa that she has to come on board.
And all this because, the BJP knows that winning Karnataka doesn't mean the party is going to expand in the south. It needs alliances in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
BJP Vice-President says, "In this era of alliances nothing is impossible."
As the nuclear impasse threatened to bring the Central government down, the BJP was first off the block. At a Kanpur election rally, LK Advani openly courted Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati promising her government all the security and support she needed if his government came to power.
"If the BJP comes to power we will not discriminate against any state government," LK Advani, Leader of Opposition, had said in Kanpur.
And the BJP believes it has an advantage because its crucial allies like the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab or the Janata Dal (United) in Bihar have not really been hit by anti-incumbency.
The party is looking at prospective allies in a number of the United National Progressive Alliance partners like Indian National Lok Dal, Asom Gana Parishad before the elections.
Jayalalithaa is being approached also for a pre-poll tie up. After the elections, the BJP is likely to approach the Telugu Desam Party and if it desperately needs numbers then Mayawati as well.
So, coalition compulsion dictates that Hindutva is out and Ram Mandir issue is again played down. Focus of the campaign will be entirely on the lowest common denominator - terror and inflation.
BJP Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad argues, "Do you know how much a thali (a plate of food) costs a poor man. It's more than Rs 20. These are the issue which we are going to raise in a big way."
The BJP has been aware of its limitations for a long time now and has developed a rare expertise to craft alliances.
After all the phrase coalition dharma was coined by none other than the party's patriarch Vajpayee. Ahead of the coming polls, the BJP will extend its hand of friendship to anybody who believes saffron is no longer untouchable.
| Ads by Google |
| Related Ads: | |
Read Comment | Post Comment
Read more comment »