Hyderabad, Aug 03: Gearing up the party cadre for the next Lok Sabha elections, BJP president M Venkiah Naidu today said, "We must be prepared for polls anytime now and seek a renewed mandate from the people based on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's performance and his ability to lead a coalition government". "By the end of this year we must complete one round of 'gaon, gaon chalo, ghar ghar chalo' (let's go to every village and every home) as part of our mass contact programme," Naidu said while addressing the party state council meeting here.

The programme would be launched from Andhra Pradesh on August 16, he said and called on the cadre to maintain unity and clarity in their approach in fighting Congress. Reiterating that BJP would not deviate from its agenda on the contentious issues, Naidu maintained that it would not thrust its ideology on its allies.

"We will continue our friendly relations with all our allies and intend to go to polls on the same basis," he said and ridiculed the Congress decision in favour of coalitions.

Though Congress said that it is open for tie-ups, there is hardly any response with left parties spelling out a dual policy and Samajwadi Party and NCP showing little interest, he said, adding that the situation is ideal for BJP to win.

"Congress is not in a position to consolidate the anti-BJP votes as its call for tie-ups is yet to take off. We have to seek a renewed mandate from people based on Vajpayee led NDA coalition government's performance," he said.
Bureau Report