BJP Chennai meet to focus on polls

A rallying cry to protect Hindutva is likely to be farthest from the Bharatiya Janata Party's collective mind as the once-postponed party meeting begins in Chennai tomorrow.

Although today former party president Murli Manohar Joshi met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Sudarshan against the background of the controversy surrounding Madanlal Khuaran's expulsion, in Chennai the focus is likely to be on the coming electoral challenge that the BJP faces, beginning with the Bihar Assembly elections.

Election management strategies, dealing with the allies and electoral micro-management are going to occupy a lot of time. Alongside will be the bigger question of the party's relationship with the Sangh, something BJP chief LK Advani is expected to dwell on, in his address.

Both are important. The party badly needs an electoral victory in order to regenerate morale. This is not easy. Getting enough seats ion Bihar so that a Janata Dal (United)-BJP government can be installed without any help from others is crucial. Assembly elections in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are also going to be tests for a party that Advani is trying to steer along the middle path.

Party leaders might discuss a strategy for Bihar that envisages more seats to its ally on the condition that the JD(U) leaves more seats for the BJP in the Lok Sabha.

This is a variation on the Maharashtra theme where the Shiv Sena and the BJP have followed this pattern for several years now.

Another issue is keeping the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) flock together""the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for instance, has formally abandoned the NDA, and given the crisis in the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, may do exceptionally well in the municipal elections there.

In the circumstances, it is the TDP that can prove spoilers for the NDA in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Obviously, leaders will debate the "differences" between Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and will try to catharsise some of the pain that the supposed rift has caused to the two individuals and the party.

But this meeting is more likely to be used to bridge divides in the party not deepen them.