The suspense is finally over. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is likely to recommend to the President the dissolution of the 13th Lok Sabha around mid-February after obtaining a vote-on-account. And the election process is expected to be wrapped up by April end. With the buzz in the party getting increasingly louder to tap in on what it calls the ‘‘feel good’’ factor, Vajpayee made his announcement at the BJP national executive which ended its two-day session here today. ‘‘I hope,’’ Vajpayee said, ‘‘a new government will be in place by the end of April.I hereby direct Finance Minister Jaswant Singhji to present a vote-on-account to Parliament at an early date.’’ Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has also been asked to take steps to convene Parliament for this purpose. Referring to the ongoing debate on early elections, Vajpayee acknowledged that seeking ‘‘the people’s renewed mandate’’ was the party’s ‘‘unambiguous recommendation.’’ ‘‘It is natural to think that we should have a fresh mandate so that we can march even more confidently towards our goal of making India a developed nation by 2020,’’ Vajpayee said. ‘‘The recent NDA meting has authorized me to take a final decision about advancing the elections. Now the responsibility is mine. The NDA is ready. The BJP is ready. The hour of reckoning has come. The decision can be only one.’’Asked about the timing, party chief M Venkaiah Naidu said: ‘‘(That) would be worked out by the Government in consultation with whosoever is concerned. The BJP wants elections as early as possible.’’ A host of factors will determine the dates: • Vajpayee’s scheduled to go on a week-long tour of Thailand and Australia in the first week of February. He’s disinclined to do that as a care-taker Prime Minister. • Parliament has to meet for passing a vote-on-account. • BJP plans to convene its national council early February to elect its president. The incumbent, Venkaiah Naidu, who is likely to be re-elected, announced today that the Lok Sabha would be dissolved after the party election. • The Sinhasth Kumbh at Ujjain is slated to commence from April 5, the Shahi Snan scheduled for April 10. Thus, polling may be phased in after the Kumbh is over. Through with the decision, the party moved fast to draw the battle-lines. The attack was multi-pronged, picking on Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and unacceptability, the sudden Congress shift to coalition-politics and the Opposition’s ‘‘confusinng two-front’’ strategy. The political resolution of the executive was clear on this: ‘‘The Congress seems to be realizing that people of India are not willing to accept a person of foreign origin as prime minister. This has also not found favour in a large section of India’s political spectrum, including several opposition parties. As far as BJP is concerned, we are firmly of the view that only India-born Indian citizens should occupy the country’s top positions.’’ Terming the Congress ‘‘a sudden new convert to the virtues of coalition politics,’’ the BJP said ‘‘everyone knows that the Congress is doing so out of compulsion.’’ Within its own camp, the Mahajan-Jaitley duo was requisitioned for crucial election work and old fund-raiser Ved Prakash Goyal was called upon to mobilize money to foot the election bill. Mahajan, architect of BJP victory in the difficult state of Rajasthan, was named the campaign committee convenor, while Jaitley, who facilitated the Madhya Pradesh victory, was named the head of a committee charged with the task of preparing ‘‘Vision document’’—a roadmap of the BJP’s plan for making India an ‘‘economic superpower.’’ Naidu announced later that BJP would embark on its poll campaign from January 23, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose. He said, ‘‘We would hold 100 big public meetings before election notification is issued. Our campaign calendar will be out tomorrow.’’ After the national executive concluded its meeting, Naidu was closeted with party general secretaries, state presidents and general secretaries (organization) to draw state-to-state strategies. Of the two uncomfortable partners, DMK and INLD, the former has already parted company with BJP. He was non-committal on the issue of a tie-up with AIADMK leader J. Jayalalithaa. He said, ‘‘You will know in due course of time.’’
