BJP eyeing regional parties before polls

• Karunanidhi praises Narendra Modi as am‘hard-worker’ and a ‘good friend.’
• A strong BJP can attract more allies, says Jaitley

New Delhi: With the induction of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) of Ram Vilas Paswan, the BJP is now eyeing the regional parties. DMK leader M Karunanidhi praised BJP Prime Ministerial Narendra Modi as a “hardworker” and a “good friend.” Even in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP is looking for Allies, although it is yet to clinch the deals. Invoking former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said how to strengthen the NDA requires a lesson from Vajpayee’s book.

A three-party NDA in 1996 became a 24-party NDA in 1998. To attract regional Allies, one has to accept and respect India’s federal and diverse character. What is significant today is a combination of popular support, increasing number of Allies and the social character of the expanding alliance. “All this signals a new change,” he said. In his latest Facebook post, Arun Jaitley said, “When the BJP announced Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial candidate the first reaction of some friends in the media and political observers was that the party would now find it difficult to get allies.

They felt that the party would be politically isolated. When there is a groundswell of support, a party can even live in a splendid isolation”. “However, that was never to be. A strong BJP has capacity to attract more friends and allies than a weaker BJP. This groundswell of support which is visible in the BJP rallies is the game changer. It sends a message loud and clear of which way the wind is blowing.

Today, those who had left the BJP in States like Gujarat and Karnataka have all returned adding to strength of the party”, he said. Arun Jaitley said the groundswell in support of the BJP/NDA and Narendra Modi is clearly visible. When certain political groups identify themselves with the NDA their area of influence may be confined to a particular State.

However, their joining sends a larger political signal. Meanwhile, Narendra Modi said an anti- Congress storm was brewing in the country and it would intensify into a 'tsunami' which the party would not be able to survive in the Lok Sabha elections. Modi said Congress was going to be wiped out because of "its sins" and people had realised that it was the root cause of their troubles. "People of the country have understood that the reason for their troubles is the Congress party. For the poor, youth and farmers, the most important thing is to uproot the Congress," he said.