Rajnath Singh and LK Advani in Bangalore on Friday. (PTI)

Bangalore, Sept. 12: Opening the BJP’s national executive meeting here today, party president Rajnath Singh staged a familiar show.

Inflation, terrorism, Ram setu, Amarnath, infiltration and apathy towards Hindu sentiments — the issues were the same, with a tilt towards Hindutva rather than governance.

The speech sounded like any at a BJP meeting, with Rajnath trying to spice it up with phrases like “chronic disorder” and “note-tantra” — a reference to the cash-for-vote scandal.

The only difference was the absence of a personal attack on the Prime Minister. For once, there was no calling Manmohan Singh “weak” or describing Sonia Gandhi as the “super Prime Minister”.

Manmohan’s government was, however, described as a captive of the Samajwadi Party with Rajnath also accusing it of failing to differentiate between national “interests” and national “perils”.

Rajnath objected to dropping the lotus as Central Schools’ logo and thundered that the sanctity of national symbols was not safe under the UPA government.

But when it came to China’s role at the NSG where India was seeking a waiver for the nuclear deal, the BJP leader clammed up.

Rajnath hit out at China for intrusions and construction activities along the border, but did not refer to the Vienna meeting at all.

Asked about it, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “We need to be concerned about the expansionist attitude of the Chinese.”

In response to a specific query on China creating hurdles for the Indo-US nuclear deal, Prasad pointed to Rajnath’s speech. The party president had accused the government of surrendering the right to conduct nuclear tests at a time there were reports that China might test again.

Rajnath was not critical of the US, limiting his attack to the UPA government, which it accused of “hiding facts” and entering into an unequal deal. The US was criticised for something else — denying a visa to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, which he linked to India’s sovereignty.

UP duo missing

The absence of Kalyan Singh and Vinay Katiyar at the meeting has been linked to differences in the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit on a tie-up with Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Sources said the two are against the proposed alliance as they feel it will hurt the party’s long-term interests. But the central leadership is keen on it with an eye on the general elections.