archive: BJP lists six issues in three-phase election campaign
BJP lists six issues in three-phase election campaign
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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