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BJP steps up preparations for general, assembly polls
New Delhi, June 23: Stepping up its preparedness for coming assembly elections in four states and 2004 parliamentary polls, BJP has asked its cadres to reach out to minorities and begun evaluating the performance of its Lok Sabha MPs as part of candidate selection process.
New Delhi, June 23: Stepping up its preparedness for coming assembly elections in four states and 2004 parliamentary polls, BJP has asked its cadres to reach out to minorities and begun evaluating the performance of its Lok Sabha MPs as part of candidate selection process.
"The brainstorming session near Mumbai has asked party cadres to work towards increasing the party base specially among the minorities and counter the false propaganda of the
opposition of dubbing the party as communal," BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters here today.
He said as part of the exercise for selection of candidates for Lok Sabha elections, party general secretary Pramod Mahajan has been asked to assess the performance of all MPs and the work done by them in their constituencies. The meeting, attended by top BJP leadership including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and party president M Venkaiah Naidu, however, asked party cadres not to be apologetic about Hindutva as it was "the soul of India."
"Hindutva is soul of India and no need of being apologetic. But it is not an election issue as the party was committed to secularism. The meeting expressed concern over the misuse of the concept of secularism by political parties," Naqvi said. The meeting felt that BJP should have good relations with all nationalist parties at all levels though he refrained from naming them despite persistently asked if they were RSS, VHP, BMS and Swadeshi Jagran Manch.
Bureau Report
He said as part of the exercise for selection of candidates for Lok Sabha elections, party general secretary Pramod Mahajan has been asked to assess the performance of all MPs and the work done by them in their constituencies. The meeting, attended by top BJP leadership including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and party president M Venkaiah Naidu, however, asked party cadres not to be apologetic about Hindutva as it was "the soul of India."
"Hindutva is soul of India and no need of being apologetic. But it is not an election issue as the party was committed to secularism. The meeting expressed concern over the misuse of the concept of secularism by political parties," Naqvi said. The meeting felt that BJP should have good relations with all nationalist parties at all levels though he refrained from naming them despite persistently asked if they were RSS, VHP, BMS and Swadeshi Jagran Manch.
Bureau Report