NEW DELHI/BANGALORE, 20 August 2007 — Sensing an opportunity in the impasse between the government and its left supporters over the India-US civil nuclear deal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) yesterday asked its workers to prepare for snap polls.
“The top BJP leadership met and deliberated on the current political situation. It came to the conclusion that midterm polls are inevitable and round the corner,” party Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said in New Delhi.
Former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani, BJP President Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders attended the meet at Vajpayee’s residence.
They also decided to press on with their demand to discuss the Indo-US nuclear deal only under Rule 184 of the Lok Sabha rules, which requires a vote after the debate.
The BJP will talk to the leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the coalition it leads, to secure their support in the two houses of Parliament, said Naqvi.
The NDA meeting is likely to be held today morning.
In Bangalore, BJP Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu told party workers: “You must be ready for any eventuality as anything may happen at any time.”
The party was working toward the general election in 2009, but “you should be ready for a snap poll,” he said.
“The UPA government may collapse or may continue as a lame-duck government,” he said after launching a program to strengthen the party at booth levels in Bangalore.
