Praising Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his comprehensive win in the Assembly polls, BJP president Rajnath Singh today asked the party in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to emulate Modi and said elections in these states will be the real “agni pariksha” in 2008.Speaking at the day-long meeting of the BJP National Executive, Rajnath Singh said recent election victories had proved that the party was on the path of returning to power at the Centre. “It is the first time in the history of the BJP that we formed four governments in one year,” he said. “I extend heartiest congratulations to the common people of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, activists and organisations, along with our popular Chief Ministers Narendrabhai Modi and Prem Kumar Dhumal, for victories in these states.”“We have shattered the myth in Gujarat that the BJP Government cannot return to power twice or thrice. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan should also try to repeat this kind of success. The activists and leadership have an agni pariksha before them. In all these three states, our organisation is also very strong. We will have to keep ourselves free from the overconfidence that comes from strong organisation and being in power,” he said.Today's deliberations were centered around expanding the NDA and strengthening the relations with allies, but the focus at the council from Monday will be “ideological”, meaning there may be a large dose on issues such as Ram Sethu, the Sachar Committee and terrorism.Setting the tone for the BJP themes for the next election campaign, Rajnath Singh listed internal security, inflation and the farm sector crisis as the biggest failures of the UPA Government. He demanded that a special session of Parliament be called to discuss the issues involving farmers.He said the NDA was emerging stronger as the elections approached and the BJP was thankful to its allies for accepting L K Advani as the prime ministerial candidate. “.we have declared the natural choice of our party and the country, Advaniji as the future Prime Minister of India. I feel elated in saying that by approving our decision of declaring Advaniji as future Prime Minister, all our friends in the NDA have given a message of unity and collectivity. I believe that this will collectivity lead us to success,” he said.He told the BJP workers that the “responsibility of realising the unfulfilled dreams of Atalji has been given to Advaniji” and called upon them to “convert this golden opportunity into victory”.Advani, who was expected to speak at the National Executive, did not address the party. He apparently decided to make only one speech on Tuesday, the final day of the meeting. The BJP president also appealed to the Election Commission and political parties to think about evolving a mechanism to club together polls rather than spreading them over several months. Having elections one after another was a major distraction for political parties, Rajnath said.
