Gear up for polls, PM tells MPs

Party must not be defensive about the government's performance: Vajpayee

Only a day before the four Assembly poll results, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs to gear up for general elections and refurbish their image by initiating the public relation exercise.

"There is not much time," Vajpayee said at the BJP parliamentary party's meeting. MPs would have to work hard to take the government's achie-vements to masses, he added. Vajpayee's terse speech contained "significant political messages," which made it clear that he intended to launch the BJP's election campaign much in advance.

"Even though the Lok Sabha elections are still a year away, but all of you should highlight the achievements of the NDA government and this task should be undertaken immediately after end of the current session," the Prime Minister said.

Without elaborating, Vajpayee said the party MPs needed to improve their image as there were many complaints about their inaccessibility to common people.

Referring to the Congress campaign to tarnish images of BJP leaders, Vajpayee said, "We are not affected by this and they have not succeeded in their campaign."

Vajpayee's exhortation to the party MPs is being seen as the BJP's strategy to launch a well coordinated campaign all over the country soon to highlight the achievements of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Vajpayee also said the party must not be defensive about performance of the central government.

Though Vajpayee's message was read by a section of party MPs as a sign of early Lok Sabha elections, BJP parliamentary party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra denied the possibility of early polls.

That the performance of the Vajpayee government would be a major election plank became evident when Vajpayee said in the Lok Sabha elections, the main issues would remain-development and good governance.

That the Hindutva agenda figured nowhere in the BJP's electoral strategy was emphasised by Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani who expressed satisfaction over the development and the good governance becoming major poll issues in the Assembly elections. He also appreciated the BJP's campaign in the Assembly elections.

Advani told the MPs that just as the party had focussed on development and good governance during the electioneering, members should do the same in their constituencies soon after conclusion of the session.

While at the BJP parliamentary party meeting, Vajpayee expressed his readiness to discuss the issues of corruption, the role of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and railway recruitment, Speaker Manohar Joshi is learnt to have sought "factual notes" from the Cabinet secretary with regard to the report of the central vigilance commissioner (CVC) about corruption in public sector undertakings (PSUs) and the Dilip Singh Judeo case.

At the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee, it was left to the discretion of the Speaker to ascertain the facts and decide about the fate of the adjournment motions.

Sources in the BJP said the Speaker's decision to seek "factual note" from the Cabinet secretary on the CVC report was aimed at neutralising the Opposition propaganda that the CVC had named some Union ministers in the corruption cases involving PSUs.

The government and the CVC have already clarified that no Union minister was named by the CVC in the corruption cases.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the Prime Minister would make a statement on the Judeo case in the Rajya Sabha to set at rest the speculation that the government was running away from the debate.

She said the government was prepared to discuss all issues raised by the Opposition. With regard to the violence against Biharis in Assam, she said the issue could be discussed as the part of a wider debate on the railway recruitment policy.