UP will be the real challenge for BJP: Vaidya

Nagpur, Mar 4 (UNI) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue M G Vaidya, noting the victory of the BJP in the recent Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand was in ''small states'', said the real challenge will be the forthcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh because that outcome would have a bearing on the shape of things to come in the country's politics.

In his weekly column in local Marathi daily 'Tarun Bharat' today, Mr Vaidya said Uttarakhand has a population of barely 4.50 lakh, 70 seats in its Assembly and five seats in the Lok Sabha whereas Punjab has a population of 2.44 crore, 117 seats in its Assembly and 13 seats in the Lok Sabha. By contrast, UP has a population of 16.62 crore, 405 seats in its Assembly and 80 seats in the Lok Sabha.

''Therefore, the elections in UP were very important because the state accounted for 15 per cent of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha,'' Mr Vaidya said. The political picture in the entire country would change if the BJP succeeded in the forthcoming Assembly elections in UP, he added.

However, the ideologue underscored that to win in UP, the BJP must become disciplined and faction-free party with a difference that had a cohesive team of activists. It must also give candidates with a good background, the former RSS spokesman said.

Without naming the BJP, Mr Vaidya said only then could it avoid the compromises that it made in 1999 in spite of having 182 members in the Lok Sabha (while forming a coalition government at the Centre). This was contrary to the usual practice wherein the weaker element in a partnership made compromises, he added.

UNI