The Hindu : Front Page : Poll strategy: BJP meet begins today

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Sunday, Feb 12, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Poll strategy: BJP meet begins today

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State committee is meeting at Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha district on Sunday and Monday to discuss the party's strategies for the next Assembly elections. At a press conference here on Saturday, BJP State president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai said the senior national leaders of the party Venkaiah Naidu and L. Ganeshan would attend the meeting. The meeting would discuss the current political situation and decide how the party could make the election results reflect its actual strength in the State.

He said Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener Paloli Mohammed Kutty had confessed some time back that the BJP had the strength to emerge victorious in certain constituencies such as Kasaragod and Manjeswaram. "Even in central Kerala we have the strength to garner 30,000 to 40,000 votes in some constituencies. We believe it is possible to turn this into election victories," he said.

He dodged questions on the findings of the Mohan Sankar committee appointed by the party to investigate the reasons for the party's poll debacle in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha byelection in November last year. He avoided giving a clear answer to a question whether the committee's report would be discussed at the meeting at Ambalappuzha.

He alleged that the majority community in Kerala had seldom received justice under either the United Democratic Front (UDF) or the LDF regime. The former Chief Minister A.K. Antony had made an open confession to that effect in July 2003, angering some of the UDF coalition partners.

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