New Delhi: As part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) preparations for the coming Assembly elections in four states, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and other top leaders of the party and the sangh parivar would begin a three-day informal consultations from May 1 in New Delhi.

The meeting would discuss a wide range of subjects like political situation in the country, economic policies of the government and other issues, BJP sources said.

The exercise is part of BJP's efforts to have regular interaction with nationalist organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) to exchange views on a variety of issues, they said.

BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu and general secretaries Sanjay Joshi, Pramod Mahajan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Rajnath Singh would also be attending the meeting.

Among those who are expected to attend the meeting from RSS include K S Sudershan and Ram Madhav, VHP leader Ashok Singhal and SJM leader S Gurumurthy, sources said.

Vajpayee is expected to be present at the meeting on the opening day and the concluding day, they said, adding such consultations were held frequently in the past but as there had been a break, it was felt that it should be revived.

"This interaction will enable the parivar and the party to have a better understanding of each other's position vis-a-vis economic policies and political issues," BJP sources said.

The recent telephonic conversation between Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali is also expected to figure at the meeting to enable the BJP leadership gauge the mood of the Parivar on Indo-Pakistan ties, they said.

The party had taken the stand that there was no question of talks with Pakistan till that country stopped aiding and abetting cross-border terrorism, a line, which the Parivar is following.

Naidu had at a recent meeting of organisational secretaries said there was nothing wrong in talking to nationalist organisations like those belonging to the parivar. If the party leaders could talk to Opposition parties, then why not members of the sangh parivar, he had said.

PTI