Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) The BJP Thursday strongly pitched itself as an alternative to the ruling Congress, and said it will "expand base" among "minorities, Dalits and poor" for the 2014 polls.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) presented itself as the "solution" to the "problems" created by Congress, two years ahead of the scheduled Lok Sabha elections.
The party will now be "expanding its base" among "minorities, Dalits and poor" for increasing its vote bank by 10 percent, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who is set to get a three-year extension on his term, said.
Gadkari accused the Congress-led central government of gross misgovernance. "We need to tell the nation, Congress has created problems, we will offer the solution," Gadkari said in his inaugural address.
He also made a passive reference to the mid-term polls, saying, "we don't want to create political instability in the country, but BJP is the alternative people of India are looking for".
However, even as the BJP talked about expanding base among minorities, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that "Ram temple" continued to be on the party's agenda.
"We have an eternal faith in the construction of Ram temple (in Ayodhya)...if it is constructed with religious harmony, it will be even better," Prasad said.
He, however, added that six years of BJP rule at the centre between 1998 and 2004, and its various state governments have proved that the party has not discriminated on the basis of religion.
"Our governments have given good governance without discrimination," Prasad said.
The party is set to take up an amendment to its constitution Thursday evening, to make it possible to give a three-year extension to Gadkari as party president.
The amendment, which is to be moved when the party discusses its working, will make it possible to give any party president in future an extension of up to three years.
The decision to bend the rules and extend Gadkari's tenure was taken in view of a possible mid-term election, and, otherwise, the 2014 general elections.
