In the aftermath of the Bharatiya Janata Party's poor performance in the Himachal Pradesh election, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his deputy Lal Kishenchand Advani on Tuesday asked party workers to strengthen the organisation.

"Development alone does not work and there is need to strengthen the organisation," party spokesman V K Malhotra quoted Vajpayee as saying at a meeting of the BJP parliamentary party in New Delhi.

He said the last five years were "crucial and difficult, but we have been able to meet all challenges. We have to decide whether we are ready to face the people".

He thanked all National Democratic Alliance partners for running the government "successfully".

Vajpayee said the credit for this should also go to Advani, party President M Venkaiah Naidu and the BJP.

In the remaining period of the NDA government's tenure, Vajpayee said, "we have to continue working to ensure that the current momentum is kept up".

Advani said that the party president had been authorised to take action against recalcitrant members.

"There should be no public criticism of the party. This damages the image of the party," Advani said.

"Slowly, a trend is setting among members to criticise the government and this should be checked. Issues should be raised at the appropriate forum in the party.

"There is no need to agitate publicly on issues. Members should sit down and resolve issues at the party forum."

Malhotra said the party leadership also asked the members to exercise caution in meetings of parliamentary committees to ensure that no adverse comments from them were incorporated in final reports of the panels.

Naidu said that during the inter-session period of Parliament, the party would launch a mass contact programme from March 19 to April 6 to highlight achievements of the NDA government.