Strongly defending Bharatiya Janata Party's criticism of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's during the Gujarat election campaign, party president M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said they were only replying to the charges levelled against the party by Pakistan as regards the Godhra incident.

"When the Pakistan president speaks about the incident and projects us in poor light, we have the right to hit back and put the record straight," Naidu said. "We were only telling our neighbour to mind its own business as minorities are being looked after well here unlike in that country and our nation has a strong cultural ethos."

Describing the opposition and the media criticising the use of Musharraf's name in campaign as a "slanderous", Naidu said, "We have the true nationalistic credentials and it should be read in its true spirit."

Naidu also said the party is preparing to face the next round of elections in nine states in the same spirit that led to its recent success in Gujarat.

"The concerted efforts of our cadre, leadership and professional management of campaign was the success of the BJP in Gujarat and we will adopt the same line in other states going to polls early next year," Naidu said.

He said that his earlier statement on the party replicating the Gujarat experience elsewhere was being distorted by certain vested interests. "We only want to replicate the methodology of coordination and better management of party affairs."

When asked why the issue is being raked up frequently, Naidu said, "Certain undesirable events like groupism and differences have crept even into our party and this message was aimed at our cadre to fight unitedly as was done in Gujarat."

Saying there would be no deviation from the National Democratic Alliance agenda as the mandate was in favour of the ruling coalition, Naidu added that the BJP would not thrust its ideology on the allies, but would try and expand the party base in the coming elections to secure a majority.

Describing Hindutva as a noble concept and not a political one, Naidu said, "We are for a Hindu country and not for a Hindu state, nor do we promote theocracy, as being propagated by our political rivals."

Naidu said the opposition parties were trying to create a wedge between BJP and its allies, referring to the Left parties having urged Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu to withdraw support to the NDA government at the Centre, as his demand for ousting Narendra Modi had not been considered.

"Such remarks only show the desperation of Left and Congress parties and their efforts will not succeed," Naidu said.