BJP president L K Advani has said the stage is now set for the installation of a BJP government at the Centre, headed by A B Vajpayee.
This time, the party will complete its five-year term, Advani told party workers of both east Godavari and west Godavari districts at Sri Venkateswara Anam Kala Kendram in Rajahmundry on Wednesday.
The BJP chief, who was on a three-day tour of the state, urged his party members to be prepared to provide better administration than the previous government as the people are keenly watching us. Every worker should prove worthy of the party which stood for principles, he added.
Later, addressing his first public meeting after the High Court had cleared his name in the hawala scandal, Advani said: the BJP is the only ray of hope on the dismal scenario currently prevailing in the country. With the Congress and the United Front fighting with each other, people have come to the conclusion that the BJP is the only party which will provide a stable government, he added.
Refferring to the BJPs alliance with the Akali Dal in Punjab and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh, Advani said the alliance was aimed at social harmony between Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab and different castes in Uttar Pradesh.
Advani said in Hyderabad that his party at this juncture was not looking for new allies but at the same time it did not believe in political untouchability as well.
Speaking to newspersons here, Advani said the idea of a National Democratic Front (NDF) was mooted only recently and the BJP was still studying the pros and cons of the issue.
The BJP would honour the feelings of the NDF partners, he added. When asked about the reported overtures by Tamil superstar Rajnikant, Advani said that it was a routine matter. I have known rajnikant for the past several years and he rang up to congratulate me after my name had been cleared by the high court in the hawala case, he said.
The BJP president denied reports that Vajpayee had contacted Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu during the present crisis. There was never a dialogue between the two on the crisis in the recent past, he said.
He said that a mere change of leadership did not entitle the United Front, defeated on the floor of Parliament, to stake a claim to form a new government.
Advani said the BJP had agreed to participate in the three-day special budget session only to bail the country out of the financial and constitutional crisis and not to save the government.
If any government loses the confidence motion in Parliament, it has to resign and the same outfit with a changed leader cannot be entertained again, Advani pointed out. When asked what his party would do if the President accepts the claim of the United Front, Advani said the BJP had written a letter to the President asking him to consider all options and assured him that his party was not averse to mid-term polls.
Describing Congress as power hungry, Advani said ever since it was out of power for nearly a year, the party has been trying to make the best out of the political uncertainty created by its own decision.
He said the United Front was yielding to the Congress game plan and both had lost credibility and reputation in the process.
In the changed political scenario, the BJP had emerged as the sole beneficiary and people were looking at it as a viable alternative.
The High Court judgement (in the hawala case) which had come in the midst of this political imbroglio had further strengthened the BJP, Advani said adding that the party general secretaries had chalked out a programme for his nation-wide tour.
The BJP president said the unholy nexus between the United Front and the Congress would be counter-productive and would work to the advantage of BJP in the coming days.
Advani, who arrived here on April 15, visited Rajahmundy yesterday where he inaugurated a housing colony constructed for the cyclone victims by RSS and other voluntary organisations.
Advani left for Delhi yesterday morning.
