In a surprising admission just a fortnight before the start of the Lok Sabha elections, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday voiced doubts whether the party-led NDA will get a majority on its own.
Swaraj, who is contesting the elections from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh for which she is the party in-charge, however, said that if the NDA emerged as the single largest coalition then with post-poll alliances the BJP-led grouping will be able to form the government.
"I am not sure that NDA will get majority on its own. But if NDA emerges as single largest coalition then with post-poll alliances we will be able to form government with that," Swaraj told reporters in Bhopal.
An apparently embarrassed BJP sought to quickly snub Sushma saying the NDA will form the government.
"We are strong, we are fighting under the leadership of Mr Advani and we should be there to form the government," BJP spokesman Siddarth Nath Singh said in New Delhi.
In reply to a question, Sushma said there was no question of the BJP distancing itself from Varun Gandhi, the party candidate from Pilibhit for the Lok Sabha elections, following his controversial hate speeches which saw the stringent NSA being slapped on him. Sushma had earlier suggested that the BJP was not inclined to utilise the services of Varun for its poll campaign outside Pilibhit.
Sushma said her party's reaction to Varun Gandhi was determined by the manner in which the Election Commission and Mayawati had treated him.
She also charged the Election Commission and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati with adopting double standards in the case of Gandhi.
The very same Election Commission which was advising the BJP not to set up Varun as a candidate saw nothing wrong in criminals like Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed contesting the elections, Sushma told reporters.
Similarly, Mayawati had slapped the National Security Act (NSA) on Varun, but took no action against people like Ansari who have been given the BSP ticket for Lok Sabha polls, she said.
Answering a question, the BJP leader said that personally she was against use of intemperate language by any person in politics.
Sushma said that in her view even the most harsh and strong words could be delivered with a lot of politeness and without losing any sense of control.
She also said the BJP was acutely feeling the absence of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from the present political scene in the country. Vajpayee has been ailing for several months and has bee keeping a low profile.
