BJP's Vijaya Sankalpa Yatra

The anointing of BJP supremo Lal Krishna Advani as Prime Minister has well and truly begun. At the party's Vijay Sankalp yatra in Bangalore earlier this week, the state unit president, Sadananda Gowda declared that each and every party worker would work totally to see that this dream would come true.

With Gowda setting the tone, it was only predictable that others followed the same tune. National general secretary and Bangalore South MP, Ananth Kumar attacked the Congress' inability to project any of their leaders as PM or CM in the state. He also said it had done virtually nothing for Bangalore, and claimed credit for the NDA government for developing national highways, outer ring roads and metro project.

Addressing the large gathering, the Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa declared that if his government failed to fulfill its promises to the people, he would not come back and show his face to the people. He said the Bangalore Metro project would be completed by 2010 and said he had appointed a task force under Dr Kasturirangan to monitor the implementation of the projects.

BJP national president Rajnath Singh's speech was an indication that the party had decided to toe the saffron line, hook, line and sinker. He dwelt on Hindutva, Ram Sethu, terror attacks, the Congress' soft approach on terror and appeasing minorities, and vote bank politics.

The prime minister-in-waiting LK Advani recalled his incarceration during the Emergency when he spent 19 months in the central jail, and said he missed the "companionship and guidance" of Sri Atal Behari Vajpayee, who  has been suffering from a prolonged illness.