BJP sought to paint a dismal picture of UPA-II holding it responsible for the economic gloom and failure to give the country leadership while accusing it of diminishing the role of the Prime Minister.

On the fourth anniversary of UPA-II on Wednesday, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley said they would limit their critique to the second innings of the Congress-led coalition which has witnessed mindboggling scams that hit the common man the hardest.

“UPA-II has seen more corruption than UPA-I. There have been mindboggling scams which were not seen by any previous government,” Swaraj told a press conference with Jaitley in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Noting that coalition politics was the order of the day, Swaraj said such governments require special leadership qualities.

At the same time, the BJP leaders parried questions on Narendra Modi’s projection as NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate by a section within the party.

“Whether we will have a (Prime Ministerial) face or not and if we decide to have a face, who it will be, these issues will be decided by the BJP Parliamentary Board in consultation with NDA partners,” Swaraj said.

Jaitley said UPA’s fourth anniversary was being celebrated in an environment of “gloom, pessimism, cynicism and negativism”.

With an eye on 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP top brass including Narendra Modi on Tuesday discussed strategy for it and decided to aggressively highlight the scams and failures of the govt as part of which nationwide wide agitation programmes will be held next week.

The BJP Parliamentary Board meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, which was attended by Modi for the first time since being made a member of the highest decision-making body on 31st March, saw the Gujarat Chief Minister emphasising that the government’s failures in the last nine years should be discussed and people be informed about them.

In this context, Modi, who is projected by some as BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, advocated greater use of social media to reach out to more people, especially the youth.

As part of its strategy in run up to the Lok Sabha polls, it was decided that week-long agitation and ‘jail bharo’ (fill the prisons) programmes will be undertaken across the country from next Monday to highlight the failures of the UPA government which complete nine years on Wednesday.

“We discussed the nine years of UPA rule. This government has failed on all fronts, be it price rise, internal and external security or the economic situation. BJP will launch a jail bharo (court arrest) programme from May 27 to June 2,” the Board’s Secretary Ananth Kumar told reporters after the meeting chaired by party President Rajnath Singh and attended by L K Advani and other leaders.

To highlight the government’s failures and scams that plagued it, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley will address a press conference on Wednesday, the ninth anniversary of the Congress-led coalition in power.

The BJP is likely to come out with a counter ‘report card’ against the UPA-II government to highlight the shortcomings of the Manmohan Singh dispensation.

The emphasis will be on the scams and scandals which have plagued this dispensation, sources said.