04-21-2007, 08:14 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Cong alarmed over BJP surge </b>
Pioneer.com
Yogesh Vajpeyi | New Delhi
Plans to make saffron main target
Unnerved by the reports projecting a surge for the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh electoral battle, the Congress poll managers have now decided on a mid-course correction in their strategy.Â
Instead of concentrating their firepower against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, <b>its star campaigners will now project the Sangh Parivar and the BJP as the principal threat to "secular India"</b>
A clear indication of the change in the tone and tenor of the party's campaign was given by its spokesperson <b>Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday when he accused the BJP and its allied organisation of trying to communalise UP election.</b>
"The party will now tell the people of UP how the BJP and its allies were bent upon tearing the secular fabric of society by whipping up communal frenzy. It will also expose the SP's lukewarm reaction to the BJP's objectionable CD on the basis of which the Congress and other secular parties have asked the Election Commission to derecognise it as a national party," he said.
Taking note of the SP's "worsening" plight that was especially seen to have come out in sharp relief in its north UP bastion after the third round of polling, some senior Congress leaders feel that the party should start going after the BJP more than the SP now.
<b>"The SP is clearly on its way out and increasingly losing ground. With the BJP surging ahead behind the BSP, it will be more prudent for us to promote the BJP as the principal target of our onslaught</b>," said a senior AICC functionary involved in monitoring the party's election campaign in UP.
The Congress party managers realise that the resurgence of the BJP in UP could accelerate the pro-NDA trend witnessed during the recent Assembly elections at the national level. <b>So they have decided to make the controversial CD allegedly brought out by the BJP a major issue in the next round of poll.</b>
<b>"By projecting the BJP as the main threat to communal harmony and social amity, the party could hope to win some of the seats in Oudh and Eastern Uttar Pradesh where it has put strong candidates. Muslims in these areas could switch their support to the Congress if they see the BJP gaining ground," </b>said an AICC general secretary.
During the past two days, party leaders like Digvijay Singh have already started projecting the Congress as the only party that could meet the saffron challenge, he pointed out. "Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others are likely to dwell on the theme more prominently in their election meetings."
Friday's AICC briefing saw <b>Congress Singhvi dub the "BJP-RSS-VHP Associates" as a corporate house bringing its "new IPO"</b> through the disc after becoming "bankrupt" in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Singhvi dismissed the BJP's argument that the Election Commission had no powers to act on issues of political ideology. " When the ideology is of a divisive nature and anti-secular and went against the Constitution, the EC is duty-bound to intervene," he said.
"The company has Bangaru Laxman as its chairman emeritus and Babubhai Katara as its managing director," he said, adding that the "new public issue" showed the true face and character of the main opposition party.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Communal congress is calling BJP communal. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Pioneer.com
Yogesh Vajpeyi | New Delhi
Plans to make saffron main target
Unnerved by the reports projecting a surge for the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh electoral battle, the Congress poll managers have now decided on a mid-course correction in their strategy.Â
Instead of concentrating their firepower against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, <b>its star campaigners will now project the Sangh Parivar and the BJP as the principal threat to "secular India"</b>
A clear indication of the change in the tone and tenor of the party's campaign was given by its spokesperson <b>Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday when he accused the BJP and its allied organisation of trying to communalise UP election.</b>
"The party will now tell the people of UP how the BJP and its allies were bent upon tearing the secular fabric of society by whipping up communal frenzy. It will also expose the SP's lukewarm reaction to the BJP's objectionable CD on the basis of which the Congress and other secular parties have asked the Election Commission to derecognise it as a national party," he said.
Taking note of the SP's "worsening" plight that was especially seen to have come out in sharp relief in its north UP bastion after the third round of polling, some senior Congress leaders feel that the party should start going after the BJP more than the SP now.
<b>"The SP is clearly on its way out and increasingly losing ground. With the BJP surging ahead behind the BSP, it will be more prudent for us to promote the BJP as the principal target of our onslaught</b>," said a senior AICC functionary involved in monitoring the party's election campaign in UP.
The Congress party managers realise that the resurgence of the BJP in UP could accelerate the pro-NDA trend witnessed during the recent Assembly elections at the national level. <b>So they have decided to make the controversial CD allegedly brought out by the BJP a major issue in the next round of poll.</b>
<b>"By projecting the BJP as the main threat to communal harmony and social amity, the party could hope to win some of the seats in Oudh and Eastern Uttar Pradesh where it has put strong candidates. Muslims in these areas could switch their support to the Congress if they see the BJP gaining ground," </b>said an AICC general secretary.
During the past two days, party leaders like Digvijay Singh have already started projecting the Congress as the only party that could meet the saffron challenge, he pointed out. "Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others are likely to dwell on the theme more prominently in their election meetings."
Friday's AICC briefing saw <b>Congress Singhvi dub the "BJP-RSS-VHP Associates" as a corporate house bringing its "new IPO"</b> through the disc after becoming "bankrupt" in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Singhvi dismissed the BJP's argument that the Election Commission had no powers to act on issues of political ideology. " When the ideology is of a divisive nature and anti-secular and went against the Constitution, the EC is duty-bound to intervene," he said.
"The company has Bangaru Laxman as its chairman emeritus and Babubhai Katara as its managing director," he said, adding that the "new public issue" showed the true face and character of the main opposition party.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Communal congress is calling BJP communal. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->