Kolkata: To tone up the party organisation before the Assembly polls in nine states, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Venkaiah Naidu on September 7 stressed on gaining confidence of the minorities, besides taking the achievements of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to the grassroot level and removing weaknesses of the party.

Naidu also launched a frontal attack on the Congress and Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI-M) for steering a slander campaign and adopting a 'spit and run' policy to tarnish the image of the Vajpayee government.

In his inaugural address at the two-day zonal conference of BJP units of the Eastern states, Naidu said that 'pseudo-secularists and a section of the media' were creating an impression as if the minorities were not safe in the BJP rule.

''We want to ask who is responsible for the condition of the minorities over the past 50 years, mostly under Congress rule. We will have to go to the minorities, listen to their problems and allay their fears,'' the BJP Chief said.

The conference, aimed at mid-term appraisal of the NDA government and introspection on the state of the party, was attended by Union Ministers Promode Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Shahnawaz Hussain besides five general secretaries and a host of leaders from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Sikkim.

PTI