BJP will bounce back: Advani

Former deputy prime minister Lal Kishenchand Advani, who took over the presidenship of Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, has assured party workers that the BJP has what it takes to bounce back from a difficult situation.

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Speaking to reporters at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday, Advani said there is no reason for anyone in the BJP to feel disheartened by the reverses suffered by the party in the General Election and Maharashtra assembly polls.

"Although electoral ups and downs are part of democracy, some of our detractors have gleefully sketched a crisis scenario in the BJP. This is not the first time that dire predictions have been made about our party. I have no doubt that BJP will stage a come back," Advani said.

When a newsman referred to a statement of senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal that time has come for the BJP to wind up, Advani took a dig at the journalist who shares his name with the VHP leader. "Is the name the source of your inspiration?" he said amidst laughter.

Advani said he accepted the party presidentship with much reluctance. "I am proud to say that no other party in the country has a second-rung leadership of the BJP's quality. We have industrious, hardworking and talented leaders capable of taking the party forward," he said.

Charging the Congress-led coalition government of devaluing the office of prime minister and subverting the parliamentary system of governance, Advani said: "The prime minister is not the highest ranking authority [in the United Progressive Alliance government]. And the person who is that authority, the so-called super-prime minister, is not accountable to Parliament in her capacity as the chairperson of the so-called National Advisory Council."

He expressed concern over the growing influence of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on the UPA government. "Never before have the central government's economic policy making functions been so arrogantly challenged and torpedoed by the Communists as is happening now. The Communists are also dictating the government's education policy, cultural policy, even the film censorship policy. Refusal to show a film on Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain on Doordarshan is a clear pointer that the Congress party's authoritarian instincts are still alive and strong," he said.

When asked if winning the forthcoming assembly elections in Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana will be a matter of prestige for him, Advani said: "I do not make a prestige issue of such matters," he said.

He lambasted the government for derailing the Vajpayee government's peace initiative in Jammu and Kashmir. "I will not make sweeping allegations against the government on this matter, but the manner in which Kashmir issue has been tackled has led to the collapse of talks," he said.

Advani rejected the claims that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is calling the shots now in the BJP. "I will be in Nagpur on Friday to attend RSS functions. I will be holding talks with them. Later, I am visiting Hyderabad and there I will meet former chief minister and leader of the Telugu Desam Party Chandrababu Naidu. We have good a equation with the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance and I would ensure that it would continue in future," he said.