New Delhi: The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) on January 30 said the Union Cabinet reshuffle and revamp of the organisation were part of a larger exercise of midterm appraisal, corrective course and chalking out of a strategy to help NDA (National Democratic Alliance) secure two-thirds majority in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing a press conference to announce appointment of Pramod Mahajan as general secretary replacing Arun Jaitley who moved to the government and Uma Bharati who has been drafted for party work, he said, "it is part of a process initiated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee since the party's National Executive in Goa" last year.

Naidu said this was part of the strategy for getting 300 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 along with its allies and thus securing two-thirds majority.

Asked if the party proposed to contest 300 Lok Sabha seats, what would it leave for the allies, he said, "in principle we want to take our allies but as a party we have to think otherwise".

Terming the coming Assembly elections in nine states this year as the "semi-final", Naidu said he had "sought to impress on the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani that they spare the party people capable of achieving the goal and "for this we wanted a senior dynamic leader and the conclusion was that Mahajan had the experience and dynamism."

Naidu said the services of Ved Prakash Goyal, who has been dropped from the Union council of ministers, would be utilised by the party.

PTI