New Delhi, India: January 30, 2008 - IR Summary – Mr. L.K.Advani, BJP candidate for PM post has said here on Tuesday that he wants to re-brand BJP with an old slogan of party with a difference. He quoted Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s saying: “It is a party with difference.”. He declared that BJP is to emerge with new spirit and difference.
Mr. Advani said that he also wants BJP-led NDA to keep a vigil eye on the coming Lok Sabha elections and particularly on at least 361 Lok Sabha seats, particularly the ones, which were held by the BJP and its allies since 1989.
Mr. Advani sets the NDA target of winning 361 Lok Sabha seats, fixes charter for BJP states.That was the central message from him on the concluding of the BJP conclave on Tuesday as he spoke in his new role, which was held by Vajpayee for so many years.
Advani gave his ‘marg-darshan’ after several BJP leaders concluded that the UPA government was down on the hill and Advani as the new mascot was what the people are waiting for.
Warning against over-enthusiasm and complacency among BJP cadres, Advani virtually acknowledged that the BJP needed to work hard to re-brand itself as it is not like the rest of political parties – an image it acquired in office between 1998 and 2004.
His mantra is to project ‘good governance, development and security’ – the three commitments he believed that have gained currency especially after the BJP’s victory in Gujarat. Every BJP leader and worker must act in such a way that the people will see the party by the old slogan.
“The best way,” Advani said, “of creating a nationwide urge for a BJP-led NDA government is to effectively tell the people how we are going to be different from the Congress and the UPA. We must – and we shall be – be different from them on every count on which we have been criticizing them.”
First and foremost, Advani wanted the BJP to send out a strong message that the days of weak leadership are over. Secondly, there shall be no compromise in the fight against terrorism and Maoism. Thirdly, corruption at the top will not be tolerated.
“Fourthly,” he said, “we shall make a sincere and determined effort to ensure that more and more common people, in villages as well as in towns and cities, are able to live better. For this, India’s economic growth will be speeded up and made more broad-based socially and geographically and reoriented to created more jobs.”
