Shaken BJP does quick turnaround on poll plank

The BJP today said it will abide by the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the NDA, a turnaround from its statement on Monday that it would g...

The BJP today said it will abide by the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the NDA, a turnaround from its statement on Monday that it would go to the state Assembly polls on the issues of the Ayodhya, uniform civil code and abrogation of Article 370.

‘‘The three issues are dearer to our heart. Since we are running a coalition government of the NDA so we will abide by the national agenda for governance,’’ BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu said.

Contrary to the position taken by party general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi after a meeting of leaders from poll-bound states of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh here on January 20 that ‘‘these issues are for state elections’’, Naidu asserted that the BJP will focus on issues like drought and water shortage in the polls.

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‘‘We have asked our state units to identify them and prepare report cards on the performance of Congress governments,’’ he said. Naqvi did not appear to have overstepped, for his comments were in conformity with what Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had told the party leaders who had gathered to draw the BJP election strategy. ‘‘We are clear about our ideology. We are not apologetic about it. We had made it clear to our allies from the beginning that the CMP is for governance at the Centre,’’ Advani said.

‘‘These are national issues and there is no reason why people in the states can not express their opinion on them,’’ Naqvi said and added that conversions ‘‘would be a key issue in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.’’

Naidu sought to downplay this. He said: ‘‘We have neither left, nor stressed these issues. These are dearer to our heart. Ideology is a broader issue. When all parties came together to form the NDA, did they give up their ideologies? Did the DMK, Telugu Desam or Akali Dal give up their ideologies? We are running a coalition government. Good governance is the essence of government. Ideology is the life-line of the party.’’