National mood in favour of BJP and NDA : Advani

{image-advani LK_12072008.jpg news.oneindia.in}New Delhi, Jul 12: Asserting that the national mood was in favour of the BJP and the NDA, opposition's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani today asked the party machinery to switch over to the poll mode as elections could descend at any time from now till early 2009.

Addressing a meeting of the BJP Election Management Committee and some of the leaders of just reconstituted Bihar at the party headquarters, Mr Advani asked the partymen to put in maximum efforts to ensure victory in Bihar, the second most important state accounting for 40 Lok Sabha seats. For the BJP and the NDA, this was the most important state where the Opposition could hope to increase its numbers in the next Lok Sabha polls.

''While the party should have faith in success, it should not be overconfident like in 2004 where the public mood was very much evident in favour of the NDA but still there was no electoral success to the extent of regaining power,'' convenor of the committee M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after the meeting.

Mr Naidu said the BJP had contested for 16 Lok Sabha seats winning only five seats in Bihar and this was the one state where the party had a 'good chance' for success in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Rest of the seats were contested by Janata Dal (United), the NDA's senior alliance in the state and its strength could increase also substantially, he said.

Mr Naidu, one of the key leaders handling the crisis in the state unit on behalf of the party along with Arun Jaitley and Hriday Nath Singh leading to some organisational changes, the BJP announced last night that the party had asked the state unit to constitute a five-member informal co-ordination team consisting of Leader of the Legislature party and state President and a senior leader to ensure smooth interaction between the government and organisation.

A 16-member special team had been constituted including party spokesmen Ravishankar Prasad, Shah Nawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy as invitees handling responsibilities at the national level.

UNI