E Jayakrishnan
The Observer
May 11, 1999
Title: BJP lists six issues in three-phase election campaign Author: E Jayakrishnan Publication: The Observer Date: May 11, 1999 The BJP has formulated a three-phase election campaign for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls along with its allies and has identified six "national issues" to take to the electorate. The Vajpayee Government is also engaged in chalking out a ministry-wise check-list of programmes, for which the Budget has already been allotted, so that they can be implemented before the notification of the election schedule when the model code of conduct for political parties comes into effect. The first phase of the campaign until June 15 involves extensive campaigning by the BJP "vote-catchers" spearheaded by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr L K Advani, who are slated to tour the different parts of the country before the monsoon breaks over the country, beginning in the second week of June. The six issues in no particular order include the nuclear explosions in Pokhran, linked to national security; bus to Pakistan, linked to improving relations with neighbours; and the Vajpayee Government's decision to impose Article 356 in Bihar, linked to protection of Dalits. The unanimous passing of the Vajpayee Government's Budget, destabilising the Vajpayee Government by the Congress and the Left without providing a alternative and the origin of Congress President Sonia Gandhi make the other three components of the campaign strategy. A senior member of the BJP's campaign and election committee told The Observer of business and Politics that while Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani would intensively dwell on these issues, the issue of Congress President's origin would be left to "other senior leaders to take up." Also, the speeches of both Mr Vajpayee and other leaders would be laced with the "local issues of the region and the constituency. " Mr Vajpayee will kick off the BJP campaign for the mid-term elections at a rally at the historic Shivaji Park on Tuesday evening to commemorate the first anniversary of the Pokhran nuclear test, which is being celebrated as the 'Resurgent India Day. Apart from the Resurgent India Rally in Mumbai, the Prime Minister will also take part in a rally in Ludhiana on May 13, along with Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal, and visit Hubli in Karnataka on May 17 and visit Manipur and the North-East on May 20. In the second phase of the campaign, from June 15 to August 15, when the country will be in the grip of the monsoon, and public meetings and rallies will be relatively difficult to hold, the party will be primarily engaged in fine-tuning its organisational co-ordination at the booth-level by holding daily meetings and conventions of the party workers and local leaders. The emphasis will also be on "reinforcing and filtering down" campaign issues launched by the Prime Minister and other BJP leaders to "every mohalla and street of every Lok Sabha constituency." In the third phase, beginning August 15 until the culmination of the elections, the BJP is set to engage in the highest gear with a blitzkrieg combining all the elements of its campaign. "The challenge will be to peak at the right time, the period after August 15, in the third phase of the campaign," a campaign committee member said. Meanwhile, the campaign and election committee of the party will be holding its meetings regularly, after receiving reports from the various State units and leaders who are currently engaged in touring the states to study the ground situation and ready the party for the oncoming polls. The 11 member campaign committee will be 'pacing' the tempo of the campaign in an effort to ensure that the issues identified in the campaign do not get dissipated and lose their sting before the last phase of the campaign is reached in the second week of September. Meanwhile, party Vice-president J P Mathur, briefing the press, denied that there was any link between the visit of Mr Advani to Lucknow on May 15 and the efforts of the party to find a solution to the dissidence against UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh.
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