In a rare praise of the communists by a BJP leader, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has said the saffron party should learn from them the art of getting re-elected to power and admitted there was "something lacking" in his government which led to its defeat in the last Lok Sabha polls.
"It is true that the way communist parties are moving ahead fast, we should not ape them, but we should learn the art of getting renewal of mandate for our government. It is a great test to get back in power," the BJP patriarch said in his valedictory address to the recent party national executive in New Delhi, the highlights of which has been published in the latest issue of party organ 'BJP Today.'
"We may go on repeating hundred times that the NDA government performed well. There is no doubt we indeed did well yet something was lacking. The people praised our work but did not renew their mandate to rule," the former Prime Minister is quoted as having said.
Interestingly, these excerpts were not released by the party to the media immediately on the conclusion of its national executive on May 30.
{{/usCountry}}Interestingly, these excerpts were not released by the party to the media immediately on the conclusion of its national executive on May 30.
{{/usCountry}}Vajpayee said the party must resolve to retain power in the states it was ruling and should work out a strategy for it.
Pointing out that BJP was running coalition governments in alliance with other political parties in some states, he said "strengthening a coalition government without weakening our ownself is a difficult task. We should ponder over it as well."