MUMBAI, DEC 7: ``BJP stands for Bajpayee party,'' is a new long form invented by party general secretary Pramod Mahajan to prove just how much Atal Behari Vajpayee represents the party.

Mahajan, flanked Vajpayee on the dais at a press conference here today, intervened to give his interpretation for the `BJP' when a reporter asked Vajpayee whether he truly represents the party or was just a mask for it. The question was in reference to an unsavoury controversy involving another party general secretary Govindacharya, who once reportedly portrayed Vajpayee as "mere mask for the party and not its true face". Though Govindacharya denied the remarks, the issue still remains in the public memory.

Mahajan, during his intervention, said his party had unequivocally declared that Vajpayee would be the prime minister if BJP came to power.

Meanwhile, keeping its doors open for possible alliance in South, the BJP confirmed that the DMK was neither anti-national nor a political untouchable. ``We do not regard DMK as anti-national... Tamils are as patriotic as any other community,'' Vajpayee said.

The party did not agree with the Congress' way of looking at DMK in view of the Jain Commission interim report, which indicted the Tamil population and DMK in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, he added. As of today, however, the party has not ruled out any possibility of having an electoral alliance with DMK, he said.

The former prime minister said the days of politics of untouchability were over and new political alignments before and after the ensuing general elections were the necessity of the day. ``Though, I am not making any predictions, the UF would split before the elections,'' he asserted.

The cracks in UF had emerged with Samajwadi Party leader, Mulayam Signh Yadav began negotiating with the Congress.

``Going with Congress would mean going with corruption,'' he said.When asked to name a UF segment, which he thought would walk out, Vajpayee said he was talking about ``segments within segments''. The BJP would contest the forthcoming polls on the plank of political stability, governance and economic growth with a human face. The party executive would meet at Bhubaneshwar from December 18 to 20 to chalk out its poll strategy, including manifesto.

Vajpayee confirmed that Hindutwa would not be a point of debate for the forthcoming elections. ``Now it has been established that Hindutwa was not just a religion but also a way of life,'' he said in reference to the Supreme Court's judgment.

The party, however, would like to have an early solution to the Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura disputes.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.