New Delhi, Jan. 25: The BJP’s spotlight will stay firmly on L.K. Advani next week with the shadow Prime Minister looming over the party’s national council meeting.

The catchphrase for the three-day brainstorming session, beginning Sunday, is Vijay Sankalp (victory vow) but the discussions are widely expected to go beyond the celebration of the recent triumphs in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh to the electoral battles that lie ahead. The national executive will meet on the first day.

The hoardings around the venue, Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan, speak of building a new India but the main purpose of the event is to showcase Advani, endorsed as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate this week.

Party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi made it clear that Advani, not Atal Bihari Vajpayee, would deliver the customary valedictory address. The former Prime Minister will not attend the national council meeting, even though it is being held in Delhi, in a clear signal that his health doesn’t permit him any political activity.

Sources say there won’t be any “political message” from him either. His letter had created a flutter at the national executive in Bhopal three months ago.

Strategies for a series of Assembly polls due this year will be crafted but the party’s sights are on the 2009 general election. Advani, in his address on January 29, is expected to make his first policy statement, revealing the direction he wants the party to take.

Apart from discussing the prevailing socio-political situation in the country, with the focus on agrarian distress and internal security, an important milestone the meeting will cross is the amendment to the party’s constitution to reserve 33 per cent of the posts for women. All party bodies, from the district level to the parliamentary board, will be required to set aside the seats.

The political resolution to be adopted at the meeting will attack the UPA government over its “weak policy” in countering terrorism and highlight its “casual” approach in dealing with matters relating to the faith of Hindus.

The party believes the Ram Setu row — the Centre had filed an affidavit questioning Ram’s existence but withdrawn it after a furore — has given it an opportunity to corner the Centre without talking of Muslim appeasement.

The meet will be attended by over 400 BJP leaders, including all members of Parliament, state legislators, district unit chiefs and representatives of frontal organisations. Party chief ministers will speak about the political situation in their states and their achievements.