New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani on Tuesday said that the Lok Sabha elections can happen this year itself. "Given that the BJP is likely to do well in all the five state elections this year, the government will not want to hold national elections after that," he added.
The BJP on Tuesday had said the country was headed towards mid-term polls and that the Lok Sabha elections could take place as early as October or November. BJP's assessment was given by party president Rajnath Singh and two senior leaders M Venkaiah Naidu and Dharmendra Pradhan as they asked the party cadres to be ready for the battle of hustings.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose party is a key outside ally of UPA, had said last week that the next Lok Sabha elections, which is due only in May 2014, could take place in November.
"I believe the polls can take place even in November," Singh said, addressing party legislators in Mumbai after visiting visiting drought-affected areas in Marathwada region. Echoing Singh's views, Naidu said general elections would be held in October-November as the Congress heading the UPA would not wait till the due date in 2014 when the electoral climate would be adverse for it.
"You can take it from me that general elections are going to held somewhere around October-November", Naidu told a press conference in Bangalore.
He said Congress is not in favour of Lok Sabha elections after Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Delhi and Rajasthan later this year as it has no hope of winning the four states. According to Naidu, UPA allies are becoming "restive" by the day and Congress fears that they might walk out of the ruling alliance, reducing it to a minority.
Thirdly, Naidu said weather would be "tough" in March-April-May next year with "water problems and other issues", adding, the economic situation will also worsen next year, prompting the Congress to go in for early elections in October-November.
Pradhan said the UPA government was in 'coma' and elections could take place any time. "The people of the country want to get rid of the UPA government which is in coma and are looking at BJP as an alternative force to form the next government, which can take place any time," Pradhan, who has retained his position in the recently announced Rajnath Singh-led BJP central team, told reporters in Jamshedpur.
With additional information from PTI
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