New Delhi, Feb. 12: The BJP plans to resume its sankalp rallies at the earliest after being forced to call them off because of terror threats to L.K. Advani.

BJP sources said party president Rajnath Singh called senior leaders to his home yesterday and asked them to draw up a new programme and get it approved by the central election management committee.

“The programme is being rescheduled,” a senior leader said today.

The rallies will start after a March 16 public meeting in Haryana, by when the matter of internal security would have been effectively raised in Parliament.

Sources said the entire programme would be rescheduled and some rally venues changed, but Rampur would definitely host one. In the town where a CRPF camp was attacked in the New Year, the party will tell rallyists that Uttar Pradesh has become the militants’ newest target.

There had been a feeling in the BJP that the earlier programme was drawn up in a hurry, without proper thought on how suitable the venues were.

Although the earlier rallies were ostensibly called off on advice from national security adviser M.K. Narayanan, senior BJP leaders admitted the party had not been too keen to continue them for fear of a “burnout”.

“We thought we were moving too early and it would be difficult to sustain the momentum till the general election,” a leader said.

“The budget session was also coinciding with the rally schedule and we felt that highlighting issues in Parliament was more important, so Advaniji should concentrate on that.”

The leaders denied that the rally cancellation had created a feeling of inaction after the hype over the BJP’s poll preparedness. They said the party was going full steam ahead and even forming booth committees. Much of the work had been completed in six states.