Ranchi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on June 15 favoured simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha in the interest of the country and called for a debate among political parties on the issue.

"The BJP is of the view that polls for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha should be held simultaneously, in order to focus attention on development projects, which are being hampered due to frequent elections," BJP president M Venkaiah Naidu told a press conference.

A simultaneous poll is necessary as people had of late been ridiculing political parties for imposing frequent elections on them, he said.

Endorsing Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's similar suggestion for a simultaneous poll made on June 14 at a function in Indore, Naidu said a consensus, however, should be reached through a debate among regional and national parties.

Naidu's remarks come in the backdrop of a section of BJP reportedly favouring advancing next year's Lok Sabha polls to coincide with the Assembly elections in five states later this year. However, majority in the party reportedly favour advancing the Parliamentary polls to February.

Naidu also suggested that a no-confidence motion moved against a government should be followed by a confidence motion as well.

Naidu predicted that the next general election and elections in states would be fought on good governance and performance under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

PTI