BJP President Rajnath Singhhas said his party will focus on improving its electoralprospects in the southern states and the North-East in thenext general elections as part of the NDA's efforts to winmore seats and wrest power from the Congress-led UPAcoalition.
"We have had our government in Karnataka and we willtry to retain the number of seats we had won last time. Ourperformance in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu can improve fromwhat it was last time and efforts are on for that. As for theNorth-East, four MPs won from there last time and I hope thatthe number will not decrease," Singh told PTI in an interview.
He was replying to a question on the NDA's prospectsin the South and the North-East in the next general elections.
Many feel the party's performance in Karnataka may godown in the Lok Sabha polls due to the constant infighting inthe BJP-led government in the state. This has dented the imageof the party.
Singh accepted that the exit of former Karnataka ChiefMinister B S Yeddyurappa from BJP to form a new party mayaffect his party's performance.
"We cannot determine the quantum of loss, but even ifsome loss has taken place we would try to regain it," he said.
Singh maintained that in the 2014 general electionshis party would not just highlight the failures of theCongress- led UPA government but also emphasise on programmesthat it will implement if voted to power.
"We will tell the people what all we will do if weform government at the Centre," he said.
Singh said the Congress-led government has failed onevery front. "They have failed on the economic, security anddiplomatic front. But we won't contest elections on the basisof this government's failure, not just negatives but we willfight the elections on political issues also," he said.
He maintained that there is a need for BJP to make itsorganisational network "more active and effective".
The BJP President said the biggest drawback of the Congress government is that it has no single power centre.
"It has two power centers which cause all the trouble.
But other political parties don't have such a mechanism,whoever is the Prime Minister, he has full-fledged authority,"Singh said.
He insisted that BJP has emerged stronger in the lasttwo decades. "If you talk of BJP, it has become stronger thanwhat it was two decades back but Congress has become weaker inthis period," he claimed.
The senior BJP leader maintained that in any coalitiongovernment regional parties have an important role and the2014 results may throw up a similar situation.