Surajkund (Haryana): It's the third and final day of the BJP national executive meeting at Surajkund in Haryana. And the party is expected to sharpen its attack on the UPA government.
A political resolution against the UPA government's policies and the recent corruption scandals will be passed today. Senior leader LK Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi are expected to take centrestage as they address the gathering along with a host of other BJP chief ministers.
The BJP, on the second day of its national executive meeting on Thursday, resurrected a 2002 letter written by Manmohan Singh that the party says suggests, the Prime Minister was against the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail when he sat in the opposition.
A political resolution against the UPA government's policies and the recent corruption scandals will be passed today. Senior leader LK Advani and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi are expected to take centrestage as they address the gathering along with a host of other BJP chief ministers.
The BJP, on the second day of its national executive meeting on Thursday, resurrected a 2002 letter written by Manmohan Singh that the party says suggests, the Prime Minister was against the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail when he sat in the opposition.
In the letter - which has been used by the BJP before and even by Mamata Banerjee recently to bolster their argument against FDI in retail - Dr Singh, who was then the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, wrote to the chairman of a Mumbai-based trade body on December 21, 2002, saying that the issue of FDI in retail had been raised in the Upper House two days before and that "The finance minister gave an assurance that the government had no proposal to invite FDI in retail trade." The BJP-led NDA ruled at the Centre then.
The decision to allow foreign mega-stores to come into the retail sector in India was part of a number of key decisions the government made earlier this month; it has defended them as necessary to reinvigorate a flagging economy.
The BJP brandishes this 2002 letter to contend that the Congress' stand then endorsed the BJP's line on the matter and has since changed. The party has also dug up another letter - this one written by the Federation of Associations of Maharashtra to Dr Singh in December 2004, by which time he was PM. In this letter, the Federation reminded the PM that he had categorically told a delegation of traders that "we should not permit FDI in retail trade... India does not require the kind of reforms which would, rather than creating employment, destroy employment".
But despite the fresh FDI offensive, the party signalled a change in strategy to a more positive campaign after Mr Advani's advice that the shrill campaign is not benefitting the BJP. Mr Advani reportedly stepped in with valuable advice that the party's two-year long anti-corruption campaign might have hurt the Congress, but has not benefited the BJP as the shrill build-up has turned negative.
The decision to allow foreign mega-stores to come into the retail sector in India was part of a number of key decisions the government made earlier this month; it has defended them as necessary to reinvigorate a flagging economy.
The BJP brandishes this 2002 letter to contend that the Congress' stand then endorsed the BJP's line on the matter and has since changed. The party has also dug up another letter - this one written by the Federation of Associations of Maharashtra to Dr Singh in December 2004, by which time he was PM. In this letter, the Federation reminded the PM that he had categorically told a delegation of traders that "we should not permit FDI in retail trade... India does not require the kind of reforms which would, rather than creating employment, destroy employment".
But despite the fresh FDI offensive, the party signalled a change in strategy to a more positive campaign after Mr Advani's advice that the shrill campaign is not benefitting the BJP. Mr Advani reportedly stepped in with valuable advice that the party's two-year long anti-corruption campaign might have hurt the Congress, but has not benefited the BJP as the shrill build-up has turned negative.
And the shift was visible. Party president Nitin Gadkari, in his speech yesterday, shifted gears as he told party workers, "Let's not be known as the party of opposition. Let us be known as a party of good governance."
He added, "Our state governments of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and others are doing well despite global slowdown, despite a central government which ignores opposition-ruled states. Let every worker spread the word about that."
Mr Gadkari went on to enlist how workers need to be trained and function - 'ignore ambition, shun protocol' and also proposed a "vision document 2025".
But this is not the only nudge Mr Advani provided to the BJP's strategy. The party has been opposing FDI in retail unleashed by the UPA. But it had ignored Mr Advani's suggestion of demanding a special session of Parliament to corner the UPA. On Thursday, the pro-reform right wing party took a left turn and spelt out its intent to make it an anti-aam aadmi issue. Leading the charge, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said, "We are not against reforms but every change cannot be called a reform."
The Congress-led UPA's move to allow FDI in retail has driven Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress out of the UPA. Congress' allies - the Samajwadi Party and the DMK - have protested on the streets against it.
He added, "Our state governments of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and others are doing well despite global slowdown, despite a central government which ignores opposition-ruled states. Let every worker spread the word about that."
Mr Gadkari went on to enlist how workers need to be trained and function - 'ignore ambition, shun protocol' and also proposed a "vision document 2025".
But this is not the only nudge Mr Advani provided to the BJP's strategy. The party has been opposing FDI in retail unleashed by the UPA. But it had ignored Mr Advani's suggestion of demanding a special session of Parliament to corner the UPA. On Thursday, the pro-reform right wing party took a left turn and spelt out its intent to make it an anti-aam aadmi issue. Leading the charge, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley said, "We are not against reforms but every change cannot be called a reform."
The Congress-led UPA's move to allow FDI in retail has driven Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress out of the UPA. Congress' allies - the Samajwadi Party and the DMK - have protested on the streets against it.
Non-UPA parties like the Left Front, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the AIADMK have opposed it heavily. The BJP has aligned its stand with theirs. The idea, according to sources, is to take this coming together to the Winter Session of Parliament where a united opposition along with parties who are saying no to FDI on retail can build a sense of the house against the government move.
The BJP wants to push the government to withdraw FDI in retail which is being termed as Manmohan Singh's return on the reform road and end of policy paralysis of the Centre. The party hopes that a coming together of parties who are with the Congress and those who are ideologically opposed to it will end the long isolation of the party, indicated best when Mamata Banerjee walked out of the UPA but the Samajwadi refused to dump the Congress as it would benefit the BJP.
The BJP is pressing for the withdrawal of the FDI move as once implemented it would be difficult for the saffron party to scrap it or support it, if post the 2014 polls the NDA forms the government, say sources.
The BJP wants to push the government to withdraw FDI in retail which is being termed as Manmohan Singh's return on the reform road and end of policy paralysis of the Centre. The party hopes that a coming together of parties who are with the Congress and those who are ideologically opposed to it will end the long isolation of the party, indicated best when Mamata Banerjee walked out of the UPA but the Samajwadi refused to dump the Congress as it would benefit the BJP.
The BJP is pressing for the withdrawal of the FDI move as once implemented it would be difficult for the saffron party to scrap it or support it, if post the 2014 polls the NDA forms the government, say sources.
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