The Hindu : Other States / Madhya Pradesh News : BJP meet calls for coordination between Govt. and party

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Monday, May 31, 2004

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BJP meet calls for coordination between Govt. and party

By Our Staff Correspondent

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, along with State BJP chief, Kailsh Joshi, and party in-charge Om Prakash Mathur (left) during the BJP's State Working Committee meeting in Bhopal on Sunday. Photo: A.M. Faruqui

BHOPAL, MAY 30. The one-day executive committee meeting of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party concluded here today with a broad consensus on the need to create a mechanism for ensuring coordination between the State BJP Government and the ruling party organisation.

This was disclosed by the State BJP President, Kailash Joshi at a press briefing held at the State BJP headquarters this afternoon. He said that it had not been possible to properly address the "coordination issue'' even five months after the BJP came to power in Madhya Pradesh due to the parliamentary elections. Mr. Joshi told mediapersons that there was a broad agreement at today's Executive Committee meeting of the State BJP and every one was in favour of building a machinery or a mechanism for the sake of proper coordination between the State Ministers and the party workers. The plan is to work at two levels. Coordination committees would be formed at the Assembly constituency and the district levels, he said adding that these committees that shall include even elected people's representatives would consider demands for transfers and postings keeping the hopes and aspirations of the people in view.

Mr. Joshi brushed aside all reports appearing in a section of newspapers indicating serious differences between him and the State Chief Minister, Uma Bharti. Categorically denying reports that he had met the party President, Venkaiah Naidu and the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi to air his grievances about the working of the State Government, the State BJP President said that there is no dearth of coordination between him and the Chief Minister. While admitting that he had met the top party leaders in Delhi, Mr. Joshi said that he had not registered any complaint at their level and went on to inform that the Chief Minister had narrated the problems she was encountering at today's meeting.

On the issue of the State Cabinet expansion, Mr. Joshi told newspersons that he has held separate discussions with Ms. Bharti in this regard. While emphasising that Cabinet expansion is the prerogative of the Chief Minister, the State BJP President said that whenever she wants to expand the Cabinet, the names would be discussed at the organisational level.

The political resolution passed by the State BJP executive committee meeting takes into account BJP's expanding vote base in Madhya Pradesh. In the 1998 Assembly elections, BJP had secured 39.25 percent votes and won 83 seats, whereas in the 2003 elections, it got 42.50 percent votes and won 173 seats. In sharp contrast, the Congress party had got 40.59 percent votes in 1998 and its vote percentage had dropped to 31.70 per cent with the party managing to win only 38 seats in 2003. The resolution also underlined the fact that the BJP has won 37 of the 41 Assembly seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes and 29 of the 34 Assembly seats reserved for the Schedules castes in Madhya Pradesh. Besides 15 of the 18 women candidates, who had been fielded in the 2003 Assembly elections by the BJP have been elected to the State Legislature.

Similarly the resolution compares BJP's performance with the Congress party in the just concluded parliamentary elections in Madhya Pradesh and goes on to point out that the BJP had secured 48.13 percent votes in the State and won 25 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats. On the other hand, the Congress party had got just 34.18 percent votes and won only 4 parliamentary seats in the State

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BJP meet calls for coordination between Govt. and party