NEW DELHI, Dec 23: The final touches to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP)makeover for Election '98 were given at its National Executive in Bhubaneshwar. By sloughing off Hindutva, Ram temple, uniform civil code and Article 370, BJP image doctors have fashioned a new liberal image for the party in the hope that current and potential allies - and voters - will find it more attractive.

Already there are signs that this adaptation to the compulsions of coalition politics is clicking, with the BJP picking up allies in the South and East where it is weak. Mamata Banerjee's divorce from the Congress is expected to land her in the welcoming arms of the BJP (or ally Samata Party) thereby giving the BJP a much-needed toehold in Left-dominated West Bengal.

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today described Banerjee's response to the BJP's overtures as "very, very positive" and said that further talks would be held after the Trinamul Congress was recognised by the Election Commission. Talks are also on with Ramakrishna Hegde in Karnataka and Naveen Patnaik in Orissa, where the alliance with the Biju Janata Dal has more or less been sewn up.

Corruption is no longer a bar, as shown by the alliance with Jayalalitha's AIADMK (which will give the BJP an entrypoint in Tamil Nadu). The BJP, it is clear, has decided that nothing - including scruples - should come in the way of its coming to power.

In Bhubaneshwar, Atal Behari Vajpayee spoke of a common minimum programme and BJP President L K Advani said in Mumbai yesterday that the BJP would not thrust its values on its allies. The last two weeks have made the BJP confident that its desperate change for the sake of acceptability has helped it cross a major hurdle - the untouchability factor. Every day brings news of not just further fragmentation of the Congress and Janata Dal, but of more parties tying up either directly with the BJP or taking a more circuitous route by joining hands with its partners.

All these developments are reinforcing the BJP's stability plank. But the BJP wants more. It is aiming to replace the Congress as the country's mainstream political party, a party that represents a wide spectrum of economic groups, castes and regional interests.And religious communities. To be perceived as enemy number one by Muslims (12 per cent of the country's population) as well as those who are not comfortable with divisive politics does not suit the BJP's interests any longer. Hence Advani's suggestion in his opening remarks at the National Executive that minorities should be given more party tickets and the complete absence of any mention of Ram and the uniform civil code in the political resolution.

BJP leaders admit that merely soft-pedalling on Hindutva may not bring Muslims around. But so long as the community does not vote with a vengeance to ensure the defeat of BJP candidates, the gains to the party could be considerable. Advani estimated that a vote swing of between five and 10 per cent could create a BJP wave.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.