BDJS eyes eight seats for Lok Sabha polls
Sources say that what he hinted at is the opposition by a section within the BJP to the party national leadership's ov-ertures to the fledgling BDJS.
Thiruvananthapuram: Bharat Dharma Jana Sena hopes to contest eight Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections as part of an understanding alrea-dy reached with the nat-ional leadership of the BJP.
“We are meeting again on August 9 with the BJP leadership in New Delhi to take the National Democratic Alliance forward. So much needs to be done organizationally and as a political combination to make the NDA a fighting machine in the State”, BDJS national president Tushar Vellapally told DC.
He said the BDJS delegation met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah and bo-th reassured him that all pending issues would be sorted out post-haste.
Mr Vellapally said the BDJS was disappointed with the delay in integrating different constituents of the NDA into an electorally convincing political combine. “There have been issues with the main party that this integration had be-en slow to happen, but I would not elaborate further on this to the media”.
Sources say that what he hinted at is the opposition by a section within the BJP to the party national leadership’s ov-ertures to the fledgling BDJS. Coupled with this is the rampant group-ism in the BJP. Sorting out these issues is the BDJS priority.
“Sharing the spoils of office is our least priority because it takes time for a new entrant to be properly accommodated in a major national org-anization such as the NDA. Those things wo-uld happen in the course of time. Our priority is to prove ourselves as a force to reckon with in terms of the State’s hitherto bipolar politics”, said Mr Vellapally.
The new BJP president, Mr P.S. Sreedaha-ran Pillai, had said soon after assuming office th-at the BDJS concerns had to be addressed. The BJDS noncooperation in Chengannur by-election was the single major factor for his defeat. The central leadership shou-ld accommodate the BDJS without further delay. This would have a positive impact organizationally and electorally on the NDA.
Mr Pillai was stating the obvious. The NDA vote share of 8 per cent to 10 percent in successive elections touched 15 percent in the last Ass-embly elections, with the BDJS as an NDA ally. He believes the overall share would have been higher still if only the BDJS was allowed to take its seat by the ringside.