The Bharatiya Janata Party has chosen to come out with its Lok Sabha election manifesto on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami on Friday to send a clear message to its Hindu voters that the party remains committed and devoted to Lord Ram.
The manifesto will be released at noon in a special pandal being erected at the BJP headquarters, with all top party leaders, including BJP president Rajnath Singh and PM candidate Lal Krishna Advani in attendance to grace the occasion.
Its release was delayed because of a second thought given to the draft prepared by a panel headed by former union minister Murli Manohar Joshi to dilute some of the hardline postures and go for a middle path that enables the party to garner support of other parties in the post-poll tie-ups the party will need to attempt a majority for forming the government.
A day after senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj embarrassing the party by stating in Bhopal that the NDA would not get a majority and will have to look for more allies after the polls, party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP and its allies were gaining day by day and as such the NDA was poised to secure a clear majority to oust the
Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) from power.
He said the UPA has become a sinking ship as seen from its allies flee to try own luck in the polls, be it Samajwadi Party, Lalu's Rashtriya Janata Dal, Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party or PMK and the latest being NCP who refuses to accept Dr Manmohan Singh as UPA's prime ministerial candidate and whose leader Sharad Pawar shares a platform with the Left in Orissa.
The UPA has nearly disintegrated as its allies "realise to their dismay that keeping company with Congress would spell disaster" while the "uncertain" Third Front cannot be expected to give a stable government for the country, Prasad said, pointing out that this factor is helping the NDA in its resurgence rapidly.
He said not only the allies are deserting the Congress but even External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the permanent No 2 in Congress who has held almost all key portfolios at the Centre during four decades of his political career, is sulking at the declaration of Dr Manmohan Singh as the prime ministerial candidate.
Prasad said he cannot read otherwise in a very loaded comment from Mukherjee that he cannot get to the top post of the PM because Dr Manmohan Singh is a "superior intellectual person" who enjoys the backing of Sonia Gandhi. He said Mukherjee has reflected a great sense of unease even among Congress leaders about the patent lack of
political leadership qualities in Dr Manmohan Singh.
