Gadkari galvanising BJP workers for coming Lok Sabha polls

Virtually assured of a second term at the recent national executive in Mumbai, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has started work on galvanising the party rank and file for the forthcoming Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources close to Gadkari said he has taken serious note of the concerns voiced by senior leader L K Advani at the conclave and later on his blog that BJP does not appear to be in a position where it would be considered a viable alternative to those who want to vote out the UPA.

"Gadkari will begin implementing his plans - which now extend beyond the December 2012 deadline he had earlier set - with a series of meetings with chiefs of BJP Morchas (fronts) and Cells this week", a party leader close to him said. The BJP Core Group, the second highest decision-making body of the party after the Parliamentary Board, will hold fortnightly meetings now under Gadkari's leadership.

"There is a growing feeling in the party that the Lok Sabha elections may be held before 2014 and the party should not be caught napping and be unprepared in such a scenario", a BJP leader said. The Assembly election results in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are considered to have come as a wake-up call for the party.

Gadkari has turned wiser after some of the wrong decisions taken in these polls and would also like to deal more firmly with infighting and other issues which have hampered its performance, he said. A reshuffle in the organisation - which Gadkari plans to do gradually to avoid ruffling feathers - is part of the plans, the sources said.