JEDDAH: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will form the next government in India under the leadership of L.K. Advani to steer the country away from the menace of terrorism, said Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Shahnawaz, a former union minister, was in the Kingdom to perform Haj as guest of the Shoura Council. He lauded the Kingdom’s Haj arrangement. “I am sure that our NDA coalition will come to power in Delhi and Advaniji will be sworn in as its prime minister,” he said.
The parliamentary elections are expected to be held sometime between February and April. The BJP member of Parliament from Bhagalpur in Bihar, Shahnawaz said that the country is passing through a very crucial time. It witnessed one of the worst terrorist attacks in Mumbai. A strong leader like Advani is the need of the hour to fight the terrorism and take the country to new course of growth and prosperity, he stressed.
“When a leader of stature and proven credibility is the prime minister the whole system works at double its normal speed. It sends a very strong message to divisive forces. People have realized now after almost five years of Congress party-led government that it cannot fight with terror with a firm hand. So they will vote for us,” he said.
However, when reminded that the BJP has lost in three states which went to polls recently, Shahnawaz said that “big two states Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, with more numbers of MPs, have been retained by his party.”
Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh send 29 and 11 members to Parliament, while Rajasthan, Delhi and Mizoram send 25, 7 and one MPs, respectively.
He said that the BJP was expecting to win in Delhi too, but a defeat there was a setback to the party. “We underestimated the strength of Chief Minister Sheila Dixit. There were other issues also which resulted in our defeat in Delhi,” he said.
Shahnawaz, however, admitted that result in Rajasthan, where Congress snatched power from the BJP, was an unexpected blow to his party. He insisted that if the parliamentary seats of all five states where elections were held recently, are taken into account then, “We are the winners.”
Speaking about BJP’s prospect in his home state of Bihar, Shahnawaz said that the forthcoming elections will throw a big surprise in the state.
“The BJP-led alliance will win at least 35 seats out of 40. Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will be wiped out in the elections,” he said.
