 |
||
|
||
|
||
Emboldened by the massive turnout at the Brigade Parade Grounds
rally here on Saturday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now
decided to give a "renewed thrust" to its campaign against the Left
parties nationwide and does not consider the Congress as the "main
enemy" any longer.
At a dinner party late on Saturday, senior BJP leader Atal Bihari
Vajpayee fielded various questions put to him by eminent
personalities of the city and, according to one BJP leader who was
present, the former Prime Minister categorically said the Congress
had already "destroyed" itself. He said the 13-party coalition
would fall at the end of this year, and added that the BJP was
gearing up for elections.
"The khichri sarkar will fall not because of Congress withdrawal of
support but because of bickerings among themselves. That is a
natural consequence of what is happening in Delhi," he said. The
BJP, which has no presence here, created history when the speeches
of Mr Vajpayee, Shatrughan Sinha, Mr Sikander Bakht and Ms Uma
Bharati were heard by a capacity crowd at the sprawling Brigade
Parade Grounds grounds here, giving rise to hope within the party
ranks that it may soon, with proper organisational support, emerge
as a front-runner in the next elections.
At the dinner party, Mr Vajpayee had made it clear that the BJP
could "not be wished away" and said that recent events in Uttar
Pradesh would cast a long shadow on the entire political scenario
of the nation. "Criminalisation had taken over. Earlier,
criminals were harboured by politicians for electoral purposes, now
the politicians are being clearly ruled by criminals. Politicians
have no role to play; it is the criminals who control them. UP is a
perfect example. And the country has realised what a dangerous game
was being played in the state which is politically most sensitive.
Now that we have saved Uttar Pradesh, it is time for us to save
the nation. And the country has realised that," he is believed to
have told one questioner. Party insiders said, "We do agree that
Vajpayeeji and Shatrughan Sinha may have been great draws, but
anyone who lives in Calcutta will appreciate that two men cannot
fill up the Brigade ground. It is much larger issue. After this,
there will be no stopping us".
BJP leaders said party workers had fanned out in the districts
since the beginning of the year. "The failure in the last
elections had spurred us. The waters agreement with Dhaka gave us
a major issue which came handy. Coupled with this was the 13-party
coalition's failure at the Centre. We, were sure that the people
were losing confidence. At the local level, the CPI(M) was
fighting the Congress; at the Centre, they were handin-glove
partners. So we stood to gain. And the Brigade rally has been a
record success," they added.
BJP leaders said, "We knew that some people would try and stall
trains, some party could even go to the extent of calling a bandh
on the day. So we requisitioned more than 2,000 vehicles to bring
in the people. We were not going to be outwitted this time."
Mr Vajpayee has also made it clear that regional coalitions were
the order of the day. Asked which party would join hands with the
BJP in West Bengal since there was no regional party of any stature
here, a top leader smiled mysteriously and said, "A major regional
party will soon come up in this state. I will not elaborate".
Significantly, there has been lots of speculation of late here that
the Congress firebrand, Ms Mamata Banerjee, may cut off ties with
the Congress and set up her own outfit. She has been at
loggerheads with the PCC chief, Mr Somen Mitra, and had even chosen
to stay away from Mr Sitaram Kesri's Brigade rally only a month
back.
In fact, she had then told The Pioneer, "I will be only too happy
if they expel me".
CPI(M) sources, significantly, did not dismiss the rally either.
The party mouthpiece, Ganashakti, covered the rally at length,
something unprecedented since anything to do with the BJP is
anathema to the reds and a party source even admitted, "Well, it is
an organised party. But most of the people were brought from
outside".
The Congress leader, Mr Sukhendu Roy, who organised the Bharat Mela
which Mr Kesri attended, told The Pioneer "It was all the CPI(M)'s
doing.
They gave the BJP the crowds. They want an early panchayat
election and are bent on splitting the anti-Left votes. We have
already doubled the number of legislators in the State and the
CPI(M) is a worried party now. If the BJP takes away even some of
our votes , the CPI(M) will be lucky. Remember, in a panchayat
election, even 200 votes mean a lot.
This is not a Lok Sabha election or an Assembly poll". The
panchayat elections are slated for next year.
|
||
|
||
|
||