Individuals failed BJP, says Advani

The message of hope and confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought to send out to its cadre during its five-day nostalgia-laden jamboree was articulated by outgoing party chief LK Advani today.

Eyes filled with tears, he said, "The downs of the last year are nothing compared with what we have faced before. We did not fail as a party." His concluding remarks were a better pep-talk than his inaugural address, which was shown to be soft on corruption and the cash-for-questions scam.

Advani, however, acknowledged the failure of top BJP leaders by saying the scams that hit the party last year were not a failure of the party but of individuals who were eager to be seen on television.

"We cannot have too many spokespersons. Individuals who have grievances against their colleagues should go to Atalji, not the media," he said.

"The desire to be seen on television has worked against us. We must control this tendency," he said. "Our failure has not been in the plural, but in the singular," he said referring to incidents like Uma Bharati's expulsion drama.

Advani also tried to explain his own, rather muted, response to the sting operation in which six party MPs were caught taking cash for asking questions in Parliament.

"Our MPs made a few mistakes. I am not saying they did no wrong. But who is condemning us? The Congress, which has been mentioned in the Volcker Committee report," he said. "We need to combat this with self-confidence. That the entire Congress has been named as corrupt should be highlighted instead of the failure of a few BJP MPs," he said.

He said the party, which had overcome the challenges posed by the deaths of its past presidents and ideologues like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Raghuvir as well as ending up with only two seats in the 1984 general elections, should not lose confidence over the limited trials of the last year.

He said the BJP's challenges were to combat corruption, to remain the credible alternative to the Congress and to take forward its agenda.

"These events of the past have to be put behind. These are not big things since we have not failed as a party, only a few individuals have failed," he said.Out of power for the last 18 months, the BJP also came out with a declaration pledging its commitment to uniform civil code, abrogation of Article 370 and Ram temple as curtains were drawn on the three-day silver jubilee national convention.

The stage is now set for Advani to address a press conference here tomorrow in which he is expected to formally announce his resignation. Senior leader Rajnath Singh is slated to take over reins of the party from Advani.