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Journalism of Courage
Close on the heels of the brainstorming session for Tamil Nadu, the BJP proposes to hold similar chintan baithaks for Kerala and Pondicherry also this month.
The baithaks would finalise the party’s strategy in the two states, where Assembly elections are due next year, BJP vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in here.
The sessions, which would be attended by senior party leaders like A.B. Vajpayee, would consider the political situation in the states and formulate electoral strategies.
Asked if the BJP would align with the National Congress (Indira), launched today by former Kerala chief minister K. Karunakaran, Naidu said this would be considered only after seeing which way the former Congress leader goes.
Regarding the boycott of Parliament over the demand of Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav’s resignation, Naidu said the NDA would take a decision tomorrow morning on whether to continue with the boycott. The Government, he charged, had not taken any steps to break the impasse, except for a few telephone calls to NDA leaders. ‘‘They have not done anything. Instead, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telephonically invited the Opposition leaders to participate in the proceedings of the Parliament,’’ he said.
Defending the party’s decision not to contest by-elections to the Kancheepuram and Gummidipoondi Assembly seats, Naidu said the outcome of these by-polls would not bring about any political change in Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, addressing the BJP’s state executive, Naidu said the party, with its decision to go it alone in the coming elections, had provided the people of Tamil Nadu with an alternative. To enable the party to prepare itself to ‘‘this challenging task’’, party conferences would be held at the panchayat, district and constituency levels. The party would also set up a state level committee to mobilise the funds required to contest all the 234 Assembly seats.
