BJP has restored credibility of PM''s Office: Jaitley

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

In an apparent attack at Congress leadership creating a separate power centre during the UPA, the BJP on Saturday said it has “restored the credibility, dignity and stature of Prime Minister's Office (PMO)” during its one-year rule and the last word now rests with the Prime Minister.

Addressing a press conference to mark the first anniversary of BJP-led government, senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asserted that the party has become the central pole of Indian politics and the national polity will now be guided along pro-BJP and anti-BJP lines.

BJP also announced a host of programmes, including 2,300 big rallies and 5,000 public meetings across the country to mark the first anniversary of its government, which all Union and state ministers, party MPs and office bearers will address.

As the Narendra Modi government approaches its second year in power, the Finance Minister also listed “global economic situation, agrarian crisis and domestic investment” as three major challenges in the days to come. “However, the global economic situation is outside our control,” the senior BJP leader said.

Jaitley said the past one year had “restored the dignity, credibility and stature of the Prime Minister’s Office”—an obvious attack on the Congress leadership for creating a separate power centre around party president Sonia Gandhi while Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.

Terming the BJP as the “central pole of Indian politics”, Jaitley also exuded confidence of winning Bihar—the next state expected to go to polls—even though “desperate opponents” were trying to stall its progress through “impractical coalition”.

Attacking the alliance between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad-led RJD, he said those who had gone to jail and those who had sent them to jail had joined hands to defeat the BJP, a reference o Prasad’s conviction in fodder scam which was pursued vigorously in courts by Kumar.

Notably, after the Delhi debacle Bihar polls are crucial for the BJP and its president Amit Shah and the party is taking no chances.

As per Jaitley, “henceforth the country’s polity will proceed as pro-BJP or anti-BJP”.

His deepest dig was, however, reserved for chief opponent Congress. “The last word in the government belongs to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and that is how it should be. The UPA’s attempt to reduce the stature of Prime Minister’s position by setting up power centre outside the government, we always felt such a system cannot continue in a democracy and we have reversed that,” he said.

Terming the formation of the government in Jammu and Kashmir as one of their biggest political achievements, Jaitley said even though the party lost Delhi, “our chief opponent Congress lost uniformly in all the eight elections”.

Trashing allegations of reduction in net expenditure in the social sector, he said because of “restructuring” “funds will not come from one pocket but two pockets now”.

Enumerating the government’s achievements, he said: “Prevailing gloom and pessimism in the country has dissipated. There is clarity of direction and policy paralysis has gone. Reluctance has been replaced by decisiveness. Crony capitalism has been replaced by liberal policy-based governance. There is no place for lobbying and corruption in the North and South Blocks”.

Jaitley also said minorities in the country were safe, and in the past one year the government had made attempts to ensure there is no social tension, he said, adding that some incidents, like attacks on churches, were found to be law and order issues, not communal one.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kickstart BJP’s one-week long mass outreach blitzkrieg on May 25 at Nagla Chandrabhan village (also called Deendayal Dham) in Mathura—the birth place of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, the founder leader of Jana Sangh.

On the eve of his second year in power, which has been termed as Jana Kalyan Varsh, the Prime Minister is also expected to announce some new pro-poor/farmer schemes to counter the negative built-up (pro-corporate, anti-poor/anti-farmer and suit-boot ki sarkar) against his government by main Opposition Congress. He will launch a dedicated television channel for farmers—Kisan TV— the next day (May 26).

In all, the BJP has planned around 200 rallies, 5000 public meetings and 200 press conferences for the week-long programme between May 25 and May 31 for the programme it calls the “Jan Kalyan Parv”.

Senior party leader Ananth Kumar said all union ministers, party MPs, chief ministers, MLAs and central and state office bearers will participate in them to highlight good work and welfare measures taken for underprivileged sections and farmers.

Slogans like “Varsh Ek Kaam Anek” and “Modi Sarkaar Kaam Lagataar” will be used to convey the message.

Modi’s rally will be followed by a press conference of BJP chief Amit Shah on May 26. The same day Shah will also address a public rally at Karnal in Haryana. His next stop will be Surat followed by Panaji on May 28.

During this massive outreach which almost matches its pre-election blitzkrieg, BJP has also planned exhibitions and melas at different places to highlight new social security schemes of the government and dispel the negative built-up against it by Opposition parties. Sources say the BJP’s ideological fountainhead—the RSS—has also warned the government to counter effectively its “pro-corporate, anti-poor” image and “misinformation campaign” before the crucial Bihar elections—the next big test for the BJP and its president Amit Shah.