I've had enough, says Vajpayee

BJP adopts political resolution moving back to hardline stance

In a sudden outburst that overshadowed the Bhar-atiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive's deliberations, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee tonight indicated that he would not lead the party any more as he had "had enough", an apparent reference to the Sangh Parivar's attack on him after the Lok Sabha poll debacle.

Vajpayee's remarks came on a day when the executive adopted a political resolution to go back to "ideology and idealism" in what is considered as a possible reversion to aggressive Hindutva plank.

His spontaneous remarks came at a BJP rally, when his supporters shouted the famous slogan "abki bari Atal Bihari (It is Atal Bihari's turn)" after release of a book on him at the rally attended by former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu.

Vajpayee, who has been under attack from the Sangh Parviar more so after his comments about Gujarat Chief Minster Narendra Modi, retorted in Marathi: "Aata nako bari. Pushkal jhal. (Now no more turn. I have had enough)."

Giving vent to his feelings he said: "Paheli bar mere upar kuch bauchaarain par rahi hai, to ye kitab sahara degi (For the first time I am under attack. This book will give me solace)." Lately, he has also been subject of nasty SMS messages in Gujarat.

Earlier, Advani set the agenda for the deliberations at the national executive saying a sense of alienation in the Sangh Parivar was one of the major reasons for the party's defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

In its resolution, the BJP pledged to rededicate itself to ideology and idealism, in what is considered a possible return to an aggressive Hindutva plank.

Though the party resolution itself did not touch its pet issues of Ayodhya, uniform civil code and Article 370, Advani made an "introspective" speech at the executive in which he said the party owed its present position to the ideological parivar (family) in which there was a sense of alienation.

The BJP was possibly cau-ght in a dichotomy between governance and politics and its political strategy was perhaps not prudent, he said adding two constituencies did not work for the party.

While the geographical constituency of party MPs suffered from anti-incumbency in different constituencies, where even the party cadres were not enthused to work for their victory, Advani said there was another critical constituency""ideological""that generally lacked enthusiasm and common resolve to get BJP candidates and party reelected.

Vajpayee also expressed concern over the unlimited use of money in elections and said the new Lok Sabha should address to the issue.

Vajpayee said it was true that the candidates furnished accounts of their expenses in elections to the Election Commission and a vigil was maintained on it. "But money is used in an unlimited way," he remarked.

"At times it appears that it is posing a threat to our democracy," he said.

They had been raising the issue of electoral reforms to curb the use of money power in elections, Vajpayee said, adding "the new Lok Sabha should think about it."