Unfurl BJP flag at Mah Assembly in next election: Gadkari

Nagpur, July 28 (UNI) BJP Maharashtra unit President Nitin Gadkari today called upon his cadre to fight with all their might to 'unfurl the party's flag' at the State Legislative Assembly in the next election, due in 2009.

Speaking at a day-long convention of the BJP's office bearers and elected representatives from Vidarbha region here, Mr Gadkari said the workers must strive to lend strength to the party at the grassroots level so that it captures power in the State.

The workers must take advantage of the opportunity provided by the people's disillusionment with the Democratic Front (DF) government's rule to ensure victory for the BJP, he said.

Significantly, Mr Gadkari made no mention of the alliance that the party has with the Shiv Sena.

Party workers must sink their differences and ensure better communication to avoid misunderstanding, Mr Gadkari said, adding that booth-level committees must be formed in a time-bound manner to decentralise the organisational set-up further from the present ward committees.

Asserting that indiscipline would not be tolerated, Mr Gadkari said tickets would not be given to elected representatives who did not take interest in the party's activities. ''They must remember that the party plays an important role in their victory,'' he said.

Explanation would be sought from the district unit chiefs about the absence of the delegates at the division-level conventions that the party had held in the state. District units would be instructed to keep a watch on the attendance of the elected representatives in their respective Houses, and the record would be later analysed, he said.

The law and order situation in Maharashtra has deteriorated under the rule of the Democratic Front (DF) government, Mr Gadkari alleged. If the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) retains power at the next polls, it could go to the extent of making underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar a Minister in the Cabinet, he quipped.

Earlier, BJP All-India General-Secretary Gopinath Munde lit the traditional lamp to mark the inauguration of the convention, the last in a series that the BJP has held in the state. Among those present were the party's in-charge for Maharashtra Kaptan Singh Solanki and Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Pandurang Phundkar.

UNI