Advani roadshow on the cards

A mass contact campaign by Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh is likely to be unveiled tomorrow by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

This was decided at a meeting of top BJP leaders here today, sources said. The meeting also reviewed the emerging political scenario and decided to launch the next phase of campaigning.

Party chief M Venkaiah Naidu declared that a tornado, not a wave, was sweeping across the country in favour of the BJP and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

So much confident was Naidu that he claimed that the first BJP government would be formed in Karnataka after elections.

After summing up the first phase the campaign, the BJP reviewed the situation in a series of meetings.

BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan called a meeting of general secretaries (organisation) from all states to discuss the ground-realities and co-ordination between the BJP and the other constituents of the Sangh Parivar.

In the evening, all BJP general secretaries along with the party president met Advani. The strategy was further fine-tuned at a meeting with Vajpayee late in the evening.

Welcoming Ranjit Singh, brother of Haryana Chief Minister OP Chautala in the party, Naidu said it was an index of the party's growing popularity. He appealed all "right thinking citizens" to join the BJP.