Former BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu, considered close to party patriarch LK Advani, on Tuesday praised BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, claiming there were several political parties who wanted to join hands with the Modiinspired BJP.
He called Modi a 3D leader (decisive, dynamic and development-oriented) and claimed that Uttar Pradesh, like the rest of the country, won’t remain untouched by the Modi wave.
“UP is clearly the BJP’s focus. It alone has 80 Lok Sabha seats. So we are going to have Modiji’s rallies here,” he said.
The country’s political landscape would take a significant turn after the elections, he said, but refused to elaborate on the kind of electoral understanding his party planned to enter into.
“Talks are on. Just wait and watch. We have set a target of 272-plus seats. But it appears that we may even touch 300,” he said to repeated queries on the issue while talking to journalists in Lucknow on Tuesday.
He, however, dropped hints the BJP would prefer to opt for partners from south rather than take support from the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party. He dismissed the talks of a third front as a ‘mirage’.
{{/usCountry}}He, however, dropped hints the BJP would prefer to opt for partners from south rather than take support from the Samajwadi Party or the Bahujan Samaj Party. He dismissed the talks of a third front as a ‘mirage’.
{{/usCountry}}Naidu alleged a section of the Congress leadership wanted to save Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and Congress leader Rasheed Masood, both of whom have been convicted and jailed in separate cases.
Naidu claimed that saving the two leaders was among the prime reasons why some Congress leaders were interested in bringing an ordinance to overturn the Supreme Court order that debarred convicted lawmakers from contesting elections. However, he also said, that by describing the ‘ordinance as nonsense’ Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had run down Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Meanwhile, the BJP has decided to rope in the ‘friends of BJP’ and its ‘intellectual cell’ to hold rallies in district headquarters of the state.
These cells would also be used for holding seminars and meetings to popularise Modi’s slogan ‘Congress-mukt-Bharat.’