BJP opts for 'Leader centric' poll campaign

New Delhi, Jan 8 (UNI) Taking the party to election mode ahead of polls in nine states and a possible early Lok Sabha election this year the BJP today said it would opt for leader centric poll campaign setting up a 19-member Central Election Management Committee to work out strategy.

The BJP had already nominted Mr Advani to lead the party in the coming Lok Sabha polls and the party will certainly project him as the party leader. "We have a leader and we will certainly be taking advantage of this", senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj told newspersons announcing the names of panel headed by BJP President Rajnath Singh.

The party's decision to formulate this adhoc panel to face elections follows the decision taken at a meeting at Mr Advani's residence on December 29. A five-member panel was formed to prepare an Action Plan for the party to face the coming Lok Sabha and nine States election in less than 15 months at the meeting. The Committee had submitted its plan to Mr Advani and Mr Singh last evening. Mrs Swaraj has been given the responsibility of coordinating with the NDA parties and liaise with small parties in states for a possible alliance. The panel will have its maiden meeting on January 15.

She also made it clear that senior leader Geogre Fernandes will continue to be the Convenor of the NDA. She maintained that the Trinamool Congress had walked out of NDA, She said there had been no official communication or statement before the NDA to this effect. Till such time, I will continue to liaise with Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee and Dinesh Trivedi, she said.

The Commiteee headed by BJP President has leaders like Jaswant Singh, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Arun Jaitley, Bal Apte, Yashwant Sinha, Gopinath Munde, Ananth Kumar, Ram Lal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Balbir Punj, Thawar Chand Gehlot and Vijay Sahasra Budhe.

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