BJP will decide its strategy at 'last moment'

The Bharatiya Janata Party is keeping all its options open and will watch the political situation till the last moment.

The BJP's national executive has decided to ''vote out'' the United Front government, but added that it will watch the situation ''till the last moment'' on Friday, April 11, when the vote of confidence will be moved by Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

The BJP's parliamentary party will meet on Thursday, but may not finalise the strategy to be adopted in the Lok Sabha.

''Why should the BJP bail out the Deve Gowda government by abstaining from voting on April 11?" asked party general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu. The Front government had always been adopting an anti-BJP posture. "Why should we come to their rescue?'' he asked.

The BJP, Naidu said, was ''happy that the pseudosecular forces have been exposed.'' The Front's ''fradulent'' public posture has collapsed, he declared, adding that the nation will not trust them again.

He alleged that the Front was collecting data to blackmail Congress leaders. Naidu said it was strange that the same UF leaders, who challenged the Congress to withdraw support to the Front these past months, are now appealing to the party to reconsider its withdrawal decision.

Ram Naik, the BJP's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, says a three-line whip has been issued to all the party's 163 MPs to remain present in the House for the whole day on Friday.

The BJP and its allies -- the Akali Dal, the Haryana Vikas Party, the Samata Party and the Shiv Sena -- Naik said have a strength 204 in the House, and this may go up to 215 if the Bahujan Samaj Party votes along with it against the Deve Gowda government.

The Bombay MP expected a new alignment in national politics after the fall of the Deve Gowda government with regional parties like the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham, Tamil Maanila Congress and Telugu Desam supporting the BJP in forming a government.