Tribune News ServiceNew Delhi, April 20
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani, BJP President Venkaiah Naidu and other top leaders of the party will meet here tomorrow to review the party’s strategy for the remaining phases of elections and the fallout of the Lucknow stampede incident.
“The meeting will discuss the strategy to step up election campaign and maintain a good rapport with partners of the NDA,” party sources said.
The meeting was likely to discuss the reply that the party had formulated to the Election Commission on the stampede incident, the sources said.
The BJP has to reply latest by April 23 to the Election Commission show cause notice on the stampede that took place at a function organised on the occasion of BJP leader Lalji Tandon’s birthday in Lucknow in which 22 persons were killed.
The BJP leaders are likely to devote a considerable time on the steps to be taken to restore the party’s image among the electorate, especially in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, the sources said.
Some party leaders admitted that despite “no fault or involvement” of the party, the stampede incident had affected the party’s image among women voters in Uttar Pradesh, for which the party cadres would have to work doubly to set right this image.
