The two-day BJP national executive meeting, scheduled to be held in Thiruvananthapu-ram from April 2, is likely to focus on ways to cobble together an alternate government at the Centre, which the party can dominate. The issue may also dominate the three-day council meeting after the executive.
Although party leaders are chary of talking about these plans, they hope to chalk out a workable strategy at the sessions. They will also, therefore, work out a strategy to prevent a mid-term Lok Sabha poll. The strategy may also contain a back-up plan to face a poll if it cannot be averted.
The party had failed to garner the support of the majority of regional parties, particularly those from the south, when it briefly formed a government in May last year.
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However, in the last nine months, senior BJP leaders have gained confidence that the parties which refused to support the BJP have softened their opposition and could support it if the party made a fresh bid for power.
Party vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy asserts that the regional parties refusal to support the BJP government did not have an ideological base. They joined the Janata Dal to form the United Front government because they thought they would have a better say in the government since there was no dominant party, Krishnamurthy said. On the contrary, they feared the BJP would not give them a fair deal. We have got feelers from these parties, Krishnamurthy claimed.
These regional parties will have to do a rethinking as they have become thoroughly disillusioned with the present government as all their expectations have been belied, he said. After seeing functioning of coalition governments in Punjab, Haryana, and Maharashtra, these parties have come to realise that the BJP would give a deserving place to each of them.
The functioning of the BSP-BJP coalition in Uttar Pradesh would further strengthen this feeling as we will try our best to ensure smooth functioning of this government, he said.
Time is now propitious for the BJP to plan a leap forward and this national council meeting will chalk out the partys direction in the next few months, keeping all the developments in mind. He did not clarify whether this leap forward would come in this Lok Sabha itself.
The party would make every effort to form a BJP-led coalition government at the Centre, a senior office-bearer of the party said.
This plan was part of the Virar conclave held recently, and would be followed up at the national executive as well. Even former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been talking of this possibility, he pointed out.
BJP general secretary Sushma Swaraj admitted that the party would discuss this issue at the executive meeting.
However, despite the projected confidence, the BJP is unlikely to play up the issue in order to prepare its cadre for a mid-term poll a scenario most likely if the United Front government falls and an alternative government cannot be formed.
The BJP has invited about 2,500 party members to the council meeting. This includes members who are usually not invited like district units presidents, zilla parishad chairmen, mayors and central office bearers of all BJP morchas.
The party is likely to give a call to streamline the partys organisation in order to prepare for fresh elections. Since the party has declared 1997 as an year of party organisation, the BJP would try to rectify organisational weaknesses and try to come up to peoples expectations, Swaraj said.
The thrust would be to complete the partys organisational elections by October so that the plenary session could take place in November. The meeting would prepare a schedule for the organisational elections, she said. A new party president takes charge at the plenary session.
The executive meeting would take up three resolution one each on political, economic and foreign affairs. The political resolution would deal with the BJPs political successes and failures since the last council meeting in November 1995, Swaraj said.
The economic resolution would discuss this years Union budget and the various steps taken by the government for further liberalising the economy. The thrust of the resolution on the foreign affairs would be Indo-Pak relations, particularly in the context of the upcoming foreign secretary level talks between the countries.
The committee on taxation headed by the partys Rajya Sabha member Satish Agarwal would present its report at the meeting. The partys concept of life time associate, evolved to collect funds on an annual basis for running party affairs, would also be discussed, Swaraj added.