New Delhi:
With the possibility of early general elections now being discussed even by the ruling Congress' close allies, the BJP has begun an exercise to assess its poll readiness. Party chief Rajnath Singh will meet leaders at the state level, starting with Uttar Pradesh, where the party needs to rebuild its base.
Bihar - where partner and state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has put his membership of the National Democratic Alliance on the line to reject
Narendra Modi as a possible prime ministerial candidate - is high on Rajnath Singh's priority list. He will review the situation in Bihar on Thursday.
The BJP rules Bihar in partnership with Mr Kumar's Janata Dal (United), an alliance tested severely by Mr Kumar's criticism yesterday of Mr Modi, who is the top choice of BJP cadres to lead the party's campaign in the next elections. Mr Kumar said only a person with a "secular image" is acceptable to the JD(U) as PM. A livid Bihar BJP has lashed out at Mr Kumar and sought a meeting with Mr Singh. (
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Sources said the BJP assesses that the increasingly fragile relationship between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, which provides crucial external support to the UPA government, could result in early elections being called and it does not want to be caught napping.
On the weekend, Sharad Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party or NCP suggested to partner Congress that the UPA should begin drawing up its election strategy. "I don't think we will go for polls immediately or that situation will come immediately but we have to be ready. In such a situation, we have to sit together and prepare a plan for tomorrow. I am going to request the chairperson of the UPA (Sonia Gandhi) that she should call a meeting of the UPA partners."