With the search for new "friends" not yielding much result, the BJP is focussing on winning more seats in the Lok Sabha polls "on its own strength".
With the search for new "friends" apparently not yielding much result, the BJP is now focussing on winning more seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls "on its own strength".
Its PM candidate LK Advani underlined this strategy when he suggested that the party is no longer on the lookout for new allies and is targeting to increase its own tally.
"No, we have to fight on our own strength. Allies don't come for nothing, alliances happen on the basis of our own strength... The stronger we get, the more allies we fetch," Advani told cadres in Gandhinagar this weekend when a worker
asked if more allies were slated to join the NDA.
The change in strategy reportedly came after a meeting between the top brass of the party and the RSS last month.
The RSS leaders had then suggested allies would line-up in the post poll scenario if the party gets a "decent figure". Else, the risk of the existing allies deserting the coalition for greener pastures looms large," party sources said.
The saffron party failed to attract new allies despite projecting itself as the only formidable force which can take the nation ahead from "despair to hope".
Advani's statement comes a week after AIADMK chief Jayalalitha made overtures to Congress for a possible alliance dashing hopes of BJP to tie up with her party in Tamil Nadu.
The BJP has also drawn blank on getting an ally in Andhra Pradesh and has lost an important ally in West Bengal in the form of the Trinamool Congress.
Incidentally, it was the seat tally of its allies from the state of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh which saw the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government assume power in 1999.
In the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, the saffron party is struggling to forge an alliance with Ajit Singh-led RLD. Singh is showing tantrums on finalizing seat sharing amid rumours that the western UP party is also exploring a possible
tie-up with the Congress.
BJP's hope of expanding the NDA umbrella to the North-East has also suffered a blow with AGP declining to be part of the alliance and settling for merely a "seat sharing understanding", an arrangement which keeps options open for it to switch sides in the post-poll scenario.
The seat sharing talks with key allies is also in jeopardy, including BJD in Orissa, SAD in Punjab and JD(U) in Bihar, which are demanding more seats than alloted in 2004.
While BJP is keen to announce all its candidates by the end of February, the target seems unlikely to be achieved owing to "inconclusive" talks with its allies in key states.
Meanwhile, party's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani has invited all NDA MPs for dinner at his residence on the eve of the final day of the 14th Lok Sabha. The dinner, scheduled for Wednesday evening is slated to be attended by key leaders of the alliance other than the floor leaders.
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