Polls arrive, NDA agenda doesn’t

Campaigning has ended for the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls — to be held in 124 constituencies across 17 states on Thursday — and the BJP has still not released its NDA agenda of governance. Shekhar Iyer reports.

Campaigning has ended for the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls — to be held in 124 constituencies across 17 states on Thursday — and the BJP has still not released its NDA agenda of governance.

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BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani (81) had wanted the document to be released before the first of the five-phase elections. He had even said as much on April 3 when the party manifesto was released in New Delhi.

BJP strategists had been working on the agenda under former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh. The document was supposed to incorporate salient features of the manifestos of the BJP and its allies.

But with top NDA leaders caught in campaigning, party leaders are not sure when they will be able to get together in Delhi for the ceremonial launch of the NDA document. “We can always release the NDA document when it is convenient to all leaders during the elections,” said BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

“Jaswant Singh was supposed to talk to the other NDA leaders like Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav, Parkash Singh Badal, Om Prakash Chautala, and Ajit Singh,” said a BJP functionary.