Indore:
At its conclave in Indore, the BJP is already executing the strategyshared by new president Nitin Gadkari. Inflation is the new war cry,and leaders like Sushma Swaraj say they'll shout it from the aam admi'srooftop.
"Today a daal made by a mother is mostly water," says Swaraj, recently promoted to Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
So you'll be asked to sign on a new petition against rising prices."Forms will be sent to all states. They have to reach every pollingcentre, stand on road crossings, railway stations and bus stops,villages, slums and offices and get people's signatures against risingprices. In my estimate, we should get 5 crore signatures," says Gadkari.
The signature campaign launches on the first of March, and willculminate in a rally in New Delhi on April 21, when Parliament will bein session.
While reconnecting with the aam admi is Priority No 1, the party willalso launch another campaign to resist autonomy to Kashmir in keepingwith its right-wing agenda.
"If the government tries to return the pre-1953 status to Kashmir, wewill launch an agitation bigger than the government could possiblyimagine," warns veteran leader LK Advani.
But to counter-balance this, Gadkari has offered to build a mosque forMuslims in a new location to replace the Babri Masjid, a huge step inhis pro-minority approach.
The saffron obsession, the Mandir issue, the hardline Hindutvarhetoric, it's all been toned down to prove that the BJP can focus anddeliver on the issues that matter most to voters. That's a line alreadytaken by its rival; the BJP now has to out-Congress the Congress.