BHOPAL, 3 March 2004, 3 March 2004 — Bharatiya Janata Party national president M. Venkaiah Naidu yesterday claimed that that there was a perceptible change in the mindset of Indian Muslims vis-a-vis the BJP in the backdrop of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference here, Naidu said lots of Muslims all over India are coming into the BJP fold after realizing that in the past Congress and other political parties have used them as a vote bank.

He said that he was saying this after visiting a large part of the country and specially south India. In the 1990s Muslims always wanted to defeat BJP but now after observing the able leadership of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee over the last five years the change in Muslim psyche has gradually come up, he added.

Replying to a question he said that the decision to give tickets to Muslims in the forthcoming Parliament elections would be taken after considering their acceptability, performance and other factors.

He claimed the very existence of Congress would be at stake after the elections as the wave was stronger in favor of the saffron party.

“As per our assessment, the BJP would cross the halfway mark and the NDA is all set to secure a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha elections in view of a country-wide wave in its favor which is even stronger than what was witnessed during 1977 polls,” Naidu told newsmen.

He also claimed that the NDA would secure two-thirds majority and the BJP will win more than 272 seats in coming Lok Sabha polls.

Terming the Congress as a ‘sinking ship’, Naidu said traditional Congress leaders and even members of the Gandhi-Nehru family were making a beeline to join the BJP as “their leadership is uninspiring... They have no clarity on leadership, philosophy and unity”.

Scotching speculation about veteran Congress leader Arjun Singh’s son Ajay Singh joining the BJP, Naidu said that the Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh met him in New Delhi on Monday only for an informal chat on rainwater harvesting and no political discussion took place.