The last phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections is yet to take place, but the BJP has already initiated moves to woo potential allies into the NDA fold.
According to sources, BJP?s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani on Friday invited TRS chief Chandrashekhar Rao to a joint rally of the NDA in Ludhiana on Sunday. Rao, who reached the capital to hold talks with political leaders, is yet to give his consent.
The joint rally in Punjab, the last before campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections ends on Monday, is being planned by the BJP leadership to showcase the NDA as the winning combination. Given attempts by the Congress to poach NDA allies like the JD(U), political circles contend that the rally is calculated to decisively pin them down to the NDA.
Besides Advani and BJP president Rajnath Singh, others who will be present at the meeting are Jaswant Singh, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu and BJP chief ministers including Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chauhan and BC Khanduri.
Allies of the BJP will be represented by Sharad Yadav and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar from the JD(U), Ajit Singh of the RLD, Uddhav Thackeray from the Shiv Sena and Bimal Gurung of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha. The SAD, which will organise the rally, will be represented by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
Advani also indirectly defended Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati by criticising SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav?s remarks that he would support anybody who would dismiss the BSP government in UP. ?The constitution does not give the right to any Central government to dismiss a democratically elected state government? Advani told reporters in Bhopal.