Kolkata: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president M Venkaiah Naidu on March 16 categorically ruled out the possibility of advancing the Lok Sabha poll as speculated by the Opposition, and said that elections would be held in 2004 as scheduled.

"I do not see any reason to advance the Lok Sabha polls. It will be held as scheduled," Naidu told reporters on the sidelines of the three-day panchayat workshop organised by BJP.

Earlier, addressing the closing session of the workshop, Naidu said his party's opponents had drawn such conclusions seeing the popular railway and Union Budgets.

He said contrary to the prediction by opposition parties, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government would complete its full term. "Atal Behari Vajpayee is the only non-Congress Prime Minister to complete a full term in office heading a coalition government," he said.

Turning to his party's defeat in recent Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP chief said, "Politics is not a one-day match. It is a series. We will win the series. We have reached the semi-final. In the final BJP alone will get 300 seats and together with allies secure two-third majority," he said.

Naidu said starting from Goa and Gujarat, BJP was now in the government in Nagaland where the party was considered as 'untouchable' only some time ago.

Urging the partymen to aggressively campaign on the Vajpayee government's achievements, Naidu said they should not be apologetic about BJP's agenda and 'hindutva', which was the "soul of India".

PTI