PTI
New Delhi, Jun 26: Still smarting under the Uttar Pradesh debacle, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today asked the BJP to gear itself for general elections as senior leader L K Advani gave a reality check to party chief Rajnath Singh, suggesting it was time to peform.
Vajpayee wanted the BJP to emerge as the largest party in the 2009 elections through a twin strategy of struggle and good governance while Advani signalled that it was time to wield the stick against those who weaken the organisation.
The two-day national executive of the party, which concluded today, saw Advani advicing Singh to consult his seniors and come out with urgent corrective measures in the backdrop of the Uttar Pradesh setback.
Both Vajpayee and Advani attacked the Congress-led UPA over the presidential elections, with the former deputy prime minister targeting Pratibha Patil in the wake of "grave" allegations against her and calling for a conscience vote in favour of vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
"In 1969, Indira Gandhi had given a call for a conscience vote to split the Congress. In 2007, let us appeal for a conscience vote to unite all pro-democracy forces," Advani remarked.
A highlight of the conclave was the party's resolve to ensure 33 per cent reservation for women at all levels of the organisation to counter the UPA's campaign for Patil.
The resolution, however, made no mention of ally Shiv Sena's moves to break ranks by announcing support to her.
But Uttar Pradesh remained the focus of the meeting where a resolution on the farm crisis was also adopted after a presentation by eminent scientist M S Swaminathan.
Rajnath Singh, who had kept his own counsel while selecting his team of office-bearers, found no support from Vajpayee, whose brief address gave no clue of his backing to the party chief.
Advani instead told the BJP president, who has invited disaffection from within the organisation, especially after the party's losses in Uttar Pradesh and Goa, to consult his "senior colleagues" and draw up a task sheet detailing immediate corrective action both at the centre and in states.
The former deputy prime minister put up five questions related to the saffron party's crushing defeat in the home state of the BJP chief.
"Why did a section of our core supporters shift to the Bahujan Samaj Party?" Advani asked, apparently in reference to the BJP's losing its support-base among Brahmins to the BSP, a phemonenon being privately blamed on Singh's candidate selection.
His comments came a day after party veteran Kalyan Singh, the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh, remained silent as the party took up assessing the state elections.
Kalyan Singh's silence is being interpreted in the party circles as a sign of his disappointment with the leadership.
BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who is also NDA spokesperson for presidential elections, emerged as a key player at the executive, which formed a committee under her leadership to oversee implementation of the woman reservation programme.
Party leader Venkaiah Naidu, seen as close to Advani, and Kalyan Singh were assigned the job to chalk out an agriculture policy for the BJP.