Rajnath a lucky vote catcher for the BJP: RSS

New Delhi, Nov 11: Hailing the victory of the BJP in the recently-concluded urban and local body elections in Uttar Pradesh as a 'comback trail' for the party, the RSS, the prime unit of the Sangh Parivar today commended BJP chief Rajnath Singh and party's Chief Ministerial nominee Kalyan Singh for the win.

The forthcoming issue of the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, in its editorial, said that BJP under Rajnath Singh had once again ''proved its resilience defying the prophets of doom in the media circuit.'' ''The BJP has performed better after 2004 debacle, and the Congress has lost ground, Yet in the estimation of the elite media circuit, the Congress was a revival path and BJP on the decline,'' it said.

Showering praises on BJP chief, the editorial termed him a 'lucky winner and a vote catcher' for the party. ''His quiet confident and measured response to issues provided the much-needed credibility to party's ideological plank, be it Kashmir, Pakistan, reservation or Sachar Committee,'' it said, adding that ''he may not be a great hit with the 'Pakistan-obsessed pseudo-secular' press, but echoed the widely-felt anguish of the cadre.'' The editorial also apportioned part of the credit on senior BJP leader and former U P Chief Minister Kalyan Singh for his ''systematic hard work in making a huge difference'' in the party's fortunes in the states.

''The political observers had written off the BJP in UP, the country's most populous and politically-sensitive state, pitching its fortune much lower than Congress which sought to reclaim the state under the youthful Rahul Gandhi's fostering,'' it said.

On Chief Minister Mulayam Singh's decision to hold Nagarpalika elections, the editorial noted that he had rushed with these elections to demonstrate his hold on the administration and sectarian vote bank, but the move ''badly boomranged,'' adding that the BJP, on the other hand, was ''winning the confidence of all nationalists across the spectrum while there was an mischevious attempt to attribute the win to the support of upper caste and middle class votes.'' Taking note of BJP's victories in byelections in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar where, it said the party had proved its ability to retain its strong hold. ''In MP, the government had remarkable progress in implementing the development agenda and solving the BSP ('Bijli Sadak Pani) issue for the last three years with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh providing the much needed direction to the statecraft, firmly in the saddle.'' Referring to the victory of BJP's Shanawaz Hussain from Bhagalpur Lok Sabha seat, the paper said his convincing victory in Hindu majority constitutency proved that the BJP ''does not win on sectarian or communal identity politics like other 'so-called secular' parties.''

UNI