NEW DELHI, July 26: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani today accused Prime Minister I K Gujral of being ``a virtual accomplice'' of Laloo Prasad Yadav and allowing the ``country's most tainted politician to have his way till the very last minute -- and beyond''.

Launching a sharp attack on Gujral in his opening remarks at the two-day meet of the BJP's National Executive, Advani told party workers that ``the final countdown for the Government had begun'' and that they should begin preparing seriously for a mid-term poll. The stability card of the Congress was now firmly with the BJP, he declared, and exhorted the party to turn the ``pro-BJP mood'' in the country into ``a tidal wave'' in favour of the party so that it gains a comfortable majority in the next general elections.Advani's speech reflected his upbeat mood after his recently-concluded 59-day rath yatra.

Clearly buoyed by the public response to the yatra and the recent political developments which have made the United Front Government look more shaky than ever, the BJP president made his most positive assertion yet: that his party was on an unstoppable march to power at the Centre.If his tone was somewhat strident, it was deliberately so, underlining the shift in tactics by the BJP. Unlike their fuzzy attacks on the previous Deve Gowda Government, BJP leaders seem to have decided to go for the jugular and target Gujral by name, hoping to thoroughly discredit the Prime Minister and force a snap poll.The change in tactics has been prompted by the perception of BJP strategists that the party stands to gain the maximum benefit from mid-term elections now. They feel that the opposition is still too scattered to pose a serious challenge to the BJP which has most of its regional alliances sewn up already. The party also wants to put its present coalition arrangement with the BSP in Uttar Pradesh to electoral advantage.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.