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Ram temple is no more an issue: Bangaru Laxman

Bharatiya Janata Party president-designate Bangaru Laxman on Saturday said that the Ram temple, Article 370 and swadeshi were not the only issues which helped the party to grow. If it were so, the BJP would not have got as many seats as it did in the last Lok Sabha election.

Talking to newspersons en route to Nagpur to attend national council meeting of the party, he said the party increased its presence in the Lok Sabha from two to 89 seats in 1989 and at that time there was no temple issue. Later, the number went up to 112 in 1991 and then 181 in 1998. In the last election, it won 182 seats despite putting these thorny issues on the backburner.

He said these issues were no more relevant. There were other things people were more concerned about and the party would pay more attention to them.

Laxman said the BJP had agreed to drop these three issues from the national agenda for governance after much deliberation. He also did not accept the charge that the party was, at one time, totally against privatisation and divestment in public sector units.

He clarified that right from the Jana Sangh days, they were in favour of divestment and this was the reason for the BJP's support to the divestment process taken up by the National Democratic Alliance government.

He emphasised on the need to have better co-ordination between the party and the government, referring to the statements by some party leaders criticising the functioning of the government.

The BJP had the same agenda as that of the NDA and it was committed to it, he said and added that it was the duty of the party workers and leaders to educate the masses about the programmes undertaken by the government for their and the country's welfare.

Laxman said that the NDA government was different from a Congress government as it is transparent and corruption free. Among its achievements were, improvement in foreign relations, isolating Pakistan in world fora, substantial increase in foreign exchange reserves, bringing a lot of foreign investment to the country and giving more attention on developmental issues.

While agreeing that a lot of indiscipline had crept into the party denting its image of a party with a difference, he said some harsh steps would have to be taken to remedy the situation.

He admitted that indiscipline was one of the reasons for the party's poor electoral performance in Uttar Pradesh. Besides, delay in deciding the Kalyan issue was another major factor which cost the party dearly in UP.

He said the two-day national council meeting would finalise an action plan to improve the party's image. This was necessary in view of the coming elections in five states.

Laxman said he would be paying maximum attention to revitalise the party organisation in the states, particularly UP, which were going to polls next year. The process of streamlining the organisation in UP had already begun, he said.

UNI

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