BJP is not a political enemy says Rahul

New Delhi, Jan 23: AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi today said the BJP was the ''main "political adversary" of the Congress and not a political enemy. ''They (BJP) follow many policies to which we are totally opposed," he told mediapersons, while replying to a question on if he concurred with the CPI(M)'s branding of BJP as the number one political enemy.

Mr Gandhi replied to a few questions at the residence of AICC General Secretary Veerappa Moily when he came there to join a lunch hosted by Mr Moily for the mediapersons. Unveiling his future plans, he said he would embark on a country-wide tour programme next month, starting from the South, to instil a new hope in the minds of the youth and revitalise the Congress.

''Now I am basically doing the ground work. Most of my work these days is behind the scene," he said when asked if he enjoyed his new position at the centrestage of the Congress politics.

He said he would launch his nation-wide tour from a state in the southern part of the country. "I have not finalised my tour plan.

Only thing I can tell you now is that it will start from the South. It need not necessarily be from the election-bound state (Karnataka)." Asked about his plan to revitalise the Congress, which had of late lost assembly elections in many states, Mr Gandhi, who is holding charge of the Youth Congress, said, "I want to create some basic institutional structures in the Youth Congress, rather than any ad hoc system."

Stressing the need for giving more role to the youth in party affairs, he said, "there is a distance between the political class and the youth. They don't feel part of the political system.''

Asked if the Congress was feeling pushed against the wall following its rout in Gujarat and HImachal Pradesh, he said "in politics, victory and defeat are part of the game. You are on when you win. You are off when you lose." Asked what had transpired at his meeting with BJP leader L K Advani, he said, "I don't want to make public, a private discussion."

Referring to the reports that there was a move to bring him to the centrestage of organisational set up for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Mr Gandhi said nobody had so far consulted him on this issue.

UNI