The Hindu Nationalist Bharitiya Janata Party, or BJP, in India, is holding a key meeting of senior leaders in the eastern state of Orissa to discuss strategy and the campaign in the upcoming general elections. Analysts believe the party has emerged strengthened by recent political turmoil involving its rivals in the just dissolved parliament where BJP MPs form the largest single block but could not muster enough support to form a stable government. Daniel Lak reports from Delhi:

It's still early days. The election campaign has not officially begun but the BJP is looking strong.

It emerged from the past year-and-a-half of coalition government and frequent turmoil with many of its credentials intact. The party appears more cohesive than its rivals and its sense of self-confidence is strong.

The party knows it has a trusted candidate for the post of Prime Minister in the veteran politician, Atal Behari Vajpayee. Opinion polls frequently show Mr Vajpayee to be the most popular of the current crop of politicians more popular than his own party.

The BJP is emphasising that it is the party of stable government, pointing to those Indian states where it is in power. In a bid to broaden its support beyond its traditional backing among high-caste Hindus, BJP leaders say they'll choose women and non-Hindus as candidates were possible.

The party is also concentrating on areas of the country where it hasn't done well in the past making alliances in the east and south of India away from its heartland, the Hindi-speaking north. Events in the key northern state of Uttar Pradesh where the BJP recently won a vote of confidence with the support of political defectors will be used by the party's opponents to challenge its claims of a new brand of politics.