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Ram Janmabhoomi movement defining moment in history: Advani AYODHYA, Apr 6: Asserting that the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was a "defining moment" in contemporary Indian history, Deputy Prime Minister L .....more Gandhinagar likely to witness one-sided battle AHMEDABAD, Apr 6: The prestigious Gandhinagar Parliamentary constiteuncy in Gujarat, represented by Deputy Prime Minister.....more Rahul as ‘heir apparent’ draw diverse responses AMETHI, Apr 6: The issue of Rahul Gandhi being the ‘heir apparent’ today drew diverse responses from Congress .....more Law and order in UP has improved: Mulayam LUCKNOW, Apr 6: Taking strong exception to Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani’s ....more |
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Youth exchange programme shows B’desh cares for India NEW DELHI, Apr 6: With appreciation for India’s development, achievements and progress in all walks of life, the .....more NHRC
asks UP Govt to NEW DELHI, Apr 6: Observing that state agents were responsible for the protection of ......more Cong, BJD-BJP field 10 greenhorns for 21 Orissa LS seats BHUBANESWAR, Apr 6: The Congress and the BJD-BJP alliance in Orissa, the main....more Congress
fights for PATNA, Apr 6: With a support base which has rapidly shrunk over the last five elections, the Congress is going to ........more |
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Congress in Rajasthan ...... Terrorism could be peacetime equivalent of war crimes: SC ...... |
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Ram Janmabhoomi movement defining moment in history: Advani AYODHYA, Apr 6: Asserting that the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was a "defining moment" in contemporary Indian history, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today said BJP participated in the Temple agitation angered by the "duplicity and double standard" of the Congress. "Ayodhya has a special significance for me and BJP. In 1990, I began the Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath, hoping to conclude it in Ayodhya. I did not reach my destination then, but the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was a defining moment in contemporary Indian history," he told reporters here before starting for 25th day of his `Bharat Uday Yatra’. "Many lakhs of people participated in the great upheaval and scores of people laid down their lives for establishment of a grand Temple in Ayodhya. Contribution by tens of thousand villagers across the country established the emotional bond with the proposed Ram Temple," he said. "For the BJP, participation in Ram Janmabhoomi movement was not prompted by religiosity, we were angered by the duplicity and double standard of the then Congress Government and used the occassion to initiate a much needed debate on secularism in India", he said. He said "two events inspired us to join the movement, one was shaho bano case where the Rajiv Gandhi Government passed a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court order. This was done under pressure from Muslim clerical leaders who had gone to the extent of boycotting the Republic Day function". Without taking the name of Syed Shahabuddin, Advani said one of them has in fact joined Congress recently. "The Congress Government played vote bank politics and allowed foundation laying ceremony and opening of locks of the doors of the disputed structure. We are happy that this development took place but Congress was playing vote bank politics in the name of secularism," Advani said. "I believe our relentless assault on what we called pseudo-secularism proved a much needed corrective. It set the ground rules for an even handed approach to issues affecting religious communities," he said, adding it also proved to be a very effective antidote to attempts to fragment Hindu society along antagonistic caste lines. Advani admitted the phenomenal growth of BJP between 1989 and 1996 owed a great extent to "our" support for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. "For us Ayodhya will always remain a potent symbol of national awakening. The sentiments of millions of Hindus are tied to the construction of a grand Temple of Lord Ram at his birth place in Ayodhya. The vision document released last week makes this clear that the BJP remains committed," Advani said. Advani said, "the parties involved in the talks over the Temple issue did not want it to be made public and lack of publicity to it was an important reason for success." Asked how he felt before Ram Lalla in the make-shift Temple at his birth place, Advani said, "I was wondering when would the barricades be removed and a beautiful and grand Temple built at the site." Before visiting Ram Lalla Temple, he had also visited Hanuman Garh Temple to offer prayers and seek blessings. To a question, he said improvement in Indo-Pak relations did have an impact on the Hindu-Muslim relation in the country and the Vajpayee Government’s efforts in this direction were laudable. He said the ongoing cricket series was a small but significant step in improving Indo-Pak relations. Referring to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s recent comments on the peace process, Advani said "there have been a couple of observations from Pakistan on which the Government has reacted but the statements from that country are not happy indications and I hope they will stick to the framework for composite dialogue process agreed to by the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries". Stressing that Ayodhya issue was not on the NDA agenda, the Deputy Prime Minister said the allies have, however, agreed for finding an amicable solution through dialogue. Only a solution found through talks could provide an endearing settlement to the issue, Advani said adding the other way to resolve it was either through court verdict or by a Parliamentary resolution. Advani said "on the basis of talks held during the last 6-8 months, I am assured that negotiated settlement could be arrived at shortly after the new Government is formed after the General Elections." "Various public spirited individuals, including Shankaracharya of Kanchi and the Dalai Lama have used their good offices to bring the two sides in the dispute to get them for a negotiated settlement," he said. Advani refused to comment on RJD supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav’s reported threat to stop his yatra in Bihar. About VHP leader Praveen Togadia’s statement that BJP may believe Muslims but he did not consider them to be "reliable", he said, "I don’t comment on statements of leaders of other organisations particularly when not required." Advani said "due to our systematic and scientific approach, we have grown to become biggest party in the country and the largest in the Lok Sabha. "In the last two decades, though a two-party system could not emerge, our Bipolar polity has been possible. At national level, we attack Congress but in states like UP and Bihar, where it has lost relevance, our target is SP and BSP." Expressing concern over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "I get worried when I hear that murder, rape, kidnapping have become the order of the day in the state. As the Home Minister, it is my duty to monitor law and order situation even though it is a State Subject. The Vajpayee Government has provided enough funds for modernisation of police in all the states". He said "incumbency was not a liablity for the Vajpayee Government but an asset". (PTI) |
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Gandhinagar likely to witness one-sided battle AHMEDABAD, Apr 6: The prestigious Gandhinagar Parliamentary constiteuncy in Gujarat, represented by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, is likely to witness a ‘one-sided’ battle with a galaxy of personalities having tried their electoral luck from here in the past but in vain. After four hectic phases of mass contact programmes topped by Bharat Uday Yatra and not so ‘formidable’ opponents, there seems little that Advani needs to do for winning this seat for the fourth time, including third time in succession. Advani has frequently described Gandhinagar as his "favourite of 543 constituencies" and said that given a choice he would always like to contest Lok Sabha polls from here. In what seems like a mere semblance of resistance to this BJP heavyweight, Congress has tried every bit. The party, had fielded former Chief Election Comissioner T N Seshan, celluloid star Rajesh Khanna, former state DGP P K Datta against Advani but all were humbled by considerable margin. Even this time, several Congress leaders were approached to contest against Advani but they declined apparently not wanting to be the "sacrificial goat". In the end, Congress had to field a former BJP minister in Keshubhai Patel Ministry Gabhaji Thakore, who had shifted loyalty alleging that he was "sidelined" by Narendra Modi. Though Thakore, a two-time MP from Kapadvanj is confident of giving Advani a "tough fight", observors say he cannot cut much ice against the BJP leader. Even Vitthalbhai Pandya father of slain BJP leader Haren Pandya and staunch Modi-critic jumped into the fray to get justice for his son. But BJP believes that the septugenarian has slipped into "state of non-relevance by over-publicising his anger against Advani and Modi." The senior Pandya, who was much persuaded by BJP to withdraw his nomination lest it causes "embarrasment" to the party, however, remained adamant and said that he is not contesting for personal gain by justice for his son. Gandhinagar, which consists Sarkhej, Sabarmati, Ellisbridge, Dariapur-Kazipur, Shahpur, Asarwa and Gandhinagar assembly segments, of which first six are BJP-ruled while the last one was wrested from the saffron party by Congress. Advani first won Gandhinagar seat in 1991 defeating Congressman G I Patel but did not contest from here in 1996 following charges in the Jain-Hawala case. In fact it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who contested and was elected from here in 1996 but being elected from Lucknow, he resigned from Gandhinagar, thus necessitating by-elections. In the by-polls, actor-turned-politician Rajesh Khanna was defeated by 61,000 votes by BJP’s Vijay Patel. In 1998, Advani again contested and defeated former DGP P K Datta fielded by Congress by a margin of 2,76,701. In 1999 polls, former Chief Election Commission T N Seshan was trounced by 1,88,944 votes. (PTI) |
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Rahul as ‘heir apparent’ draw diverse responses AMETHI, Apr 6: The issue of Rahul Gandhi being the ‘heir apparent’ today drew diverse responses from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka with the latter saying "of course" but the mother saying "his focus is Amethi." "I am not grooming him for the job. He is not (heir apparent). He is going to concentrate on Amethi, on the work, all the development work here," said Sonia, a day after Rahul filed his nomination from the family pocketbourough once held by his father Rajiv Gandhi. When asked about prospects of Rahul "taking over" two to three years down the line, she told NDTV 24x7, "who knows. His focus is Amethi. I see him working for Amethi." However, sister Priyanka was more forthcoming and said "of course" when asked by the news channel whether Rahul was the `heir apparent’. Replying to a question, Priyanka said, "Rahul will be a decent politician, because he is a decent human being." "He is very sincere, cares for the people and their problems, well educated about politics and economics... His will to work hard," were the qualities that would ensure his success, Priyanka said adding "I am very very proud of him." As for her own political future, she said, she was content at doing the work assigned to her and would canvass in Amethi and Rae Bareli. When asked when she would take the plunge, Priyanka said, "not at this moment" as she has two small children to look after. Asked about her becoming emotional when Rahul formally entered the fray yesterday, Sonia said her feelings were the same as that of "any mother whose son enters politics or any other spehere of his interest." Noting that she had a lot of memories associated with Amethi, she said, "it was for you all to see how different rahul was from Rajiv". "One shouldn’t make comparisons between parents, children, grandchildren. They all have different temperaments, their own ways," she said brushing charges that there was pressure form her on Rahul to join politics. "It’s not a question of my pushing him. He took his own decision," Sonia said adding that both her children always had an interest in politics and both followed it closely. Referring to the charge that the party was being run like a "family business," Sonia said, "I don’t quite see it like a family business because we fight elections. We could win or lose. We are democratically elected." On any advice to Rahul, she said, "I don’t believe in giving any advice. Young people know pretty much what they want to do. There’s no question of giving advice." She conceded that the faimly surname could be an advantage to Rahul "but he would have to prove himself, like his father and grandmother". Commenting on the failure to form any alliance with BSP or SP in Uttar Pradesh, she said, the response from other parties was "not up to our expectations" and so the Congress would fight the polls on its own in UP. (PTI) |
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Cong, BJD-BJP field 10 greenhorns for 21 Orissa LS seats BHUBANESWAR, Apr 6: The Congress and the BJD-BJP alliance in Orissa, the main combatants in the simultaneous elections being held this month, have fielded as many as ten greenhorns in the state’s 21 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Congress has set up five new faces in the 20 seats the party is contesting having left the Mayurbhanj (ST) seat to the JMM in a seat sharing arrangement. The new party candidates are Niranjan Panda (Balasore), Amiyakanta Mallick (Jajpur-SC), Abhimanyu Behera (Phulbani-SC), Sanjay Bhoi (Sambalpur) and Nilakantha Naik (Keonjhar-ST). The BJP’s national secretary Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhagirathi Majhi, a former bank employee, are the new faces fielded by the party from the Deogarh and Mayurbhanj (ST) seats respectively. Eminent lawyer Brahmananda Panda, Sugrib Singh and former Congress Minister Harihar Swain are the debutants set up by BJD who will contest from the Jagatsinghpur, Phulbani(SC) and aska Parliamentary constituencies respectively. Of the 21 members of the dissolved Lok Sabha from Orissa, 13 are seeking re-election. Seven of them are from the BJP, five from the BJD and one from the Congress. The BJD and BJP are contesting 12 and nine Lok Sabha seats respectively, keeping intact their earlier seat sharing arrangement. The BJD had won ten of the 12 seats it contested last time while the BJP had made a clean sweep of all its nine constituencies. The BJD nominees seeking re-election are Union Minister for Water Resources Arjun Charan Sethi (Bhadrak-SC), Union Minister for Steel Braja Kishore Tripathy (Puri), Prasanna Acharya (Sambalpur), Bhartruhari Mahtab (Cuttack) and Prasanna Patsani (Bhubaneswar). Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram (Sundargarh-ST), Anadi Charan Sahu (Berhampur), Parsuram Majhi (Nabarangpur), Bikram Keshari Deo (Kalahandi), Sangeeta Singh Deo (Balangir), Kharavela Swain (Balasore) and Ananta Nayak (Keonjhar-ST) are the BJP aspirants seeking re-election. Former Union Minister K P Singh Deo, who is trying to enter the Lok Sabha for the seventh time, is seeking re-election from Dhenkanal. The Congress had two members from Orissa in the dissolved house. The eight members of the dissolved House who are not in the fray included Trilochan Kanungo (Jagatsinghpur), Jagannath Mallick (Jajpur-SC), Prabhat Samantaray (Kendrapara), Kumudini Patnaik (Aska) and Padmanav Behera (Phulbani-SC). All of them were BJD members. Two BJP members, former Union Minister Debendra Pradhan (Deogarh) and Salkhan Murmu (Mayurbhanj-ST) are also not contesting the polls as also Hema Gamang (Koraput-ST) of the Congress. (PTI) |
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Congress fights for survival in Bihar PATNA, Apr 6: With a support base which has rapidly shrunk over the last five elections, the Congress is going to the hustings in Bihar as part of an uneasy alliance led by Laloo Prasad Yadav’s RJD, fighting only four of the 40 Lok Sabha seats, the lowest in its electoral history in the state. The grand old party of India which had staked claim to 20 odd seats ultimately managed to secure only four seats after several rounds of hard bargaining with the RJD strongman, triggering strong resentment in the party. So evident is the bitterness that not a single congress leader, not even its state chief Ramjatan Sinha, was present when Laloo Prasad Yadav and Lok Jan Shakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan announced formalisation of the secular alliance on March 27. The RJD leader allotted Begusarai, Aurangabad, Madhubani and Sasaram seats to the Congress as part of the seat-sharing arrangement claiming he had been authorised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary incharge of Bihar R K Dhavan to make the announcement. The Congress is yet to finalise its candidate for the Begusarai seat which Rajo Singh had won last time. According to party insiders, Singh is likely to be denied a ticket from the Begusarai seat for which the names of BPCC chief Sinha, former Union Minister Krishna Sahi and Congress minister in the Rabri Devi cabinet Veena Sahi were under consideration. So deep is the acrimony apparently that BPCC president Sinha and Laloo Prasad Yadav do not not even care to maintain a facade of unity during public appearances. A sulking Sinha promptly denied that Yadav had been authorised by the Congress high command to announce its seats, while Laloo shot back saying the BPCC chief had been cut down to size by his own leadership. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections Congress had contested five seats, winning Begusarai and Aurangabad, finishing second in Maharajganj and Madhubani and third in Katihar polling 4.78 per cent votes. The Katihar seat has gone to NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar this time as part of the electoral tie-up, prompting the Congress candidate in the last election and former party MLA from Manihari Mobarak Hussain to switch over to the Samajwadi Party which has rewarded him with the party nomination. In the 1998 polls for the 12th Lok Sabha, when it entered into an electoral pact with the RJD for the first time, the Congress had fielded 21 candidates for the 54 seats of undivided Bihar. While it contested eight seats in alliance with RJD, the two parties engaged in friendly contests in 13 others of which Congress nominees forfeited security deposits in nine. The party had won five seats polling 7.3 per cent votes. Though the percentage of votes garnered by the Congress in the 2000 assembly poll held after the 1999 Lok Sabha elections went up to 8.41 per cent from 4.78 per cent, it could win only 12 of the 243 seats which are in Bihar after its bifurcation. The party had not effected any tie-up with RJD for the assembly elections. (PTI) Battle lines drawn between BJP and Congress in Rajasthan JAIPUR, Apr 6: The battle lines for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan have been drawn between key contestants BJP and Congress with a galaxy of filmstars and the candidates hitting the campaign trail. While ruling BJP is aiming to increase its best tally of 16 seats, it won in the last Lok Sabha elections, Congress is battling to come out of the shadow of its humiliating defeat in the recent assembly elections when its strength in 200 member house was reduced to a mere 56 seats. Both the parties have opted to field most of their sitting members. BJP has fielded Dushyant Kumar, son of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje from Jhalawar, in place of his mother who resigned her lower House seat after taking over the reins of the State Government. The party has also replaced sitting member Jaswant Singh Yadav from Alwar with the spiritual Baba Cand Nath from neighbouring Haryana. Congress while retaining eight of its nine sitting members has fielded Sachin Pilot, son of late Rajesh Pilot, from Dausa in place of his mother Rama Pilot who had won the by-election to retain her husband’s seat. Although the campaign is yet to be launched formally, the desert state has been in poll mode ever since early the dissolution of Lok Sabha. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who emerged as a charismatic leader in assembly polls, is leading the Parliamentary poll campaign for her party while Congress has assigned the task to veteran Nawal Kishore Sharma. Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is conspicuous by his absence from the poll scenario in the state. He has been assigned to look after the Congress campaign in Himachal Pradesh and Chattisgarh by the party high command. Former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Girija Vyas is also stuck in Udaipur trying to defend her seat while a new crop of leaders has emerged in Jaipur with Narayan Singh heading the PCC and B D Kalla as the Congress legislative party leader. The BJP proved quicker than the Congress in gearing up its machinery for the ensuing elections and has completed two rounds of mass contact and fund raising programmes. Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani’s ‘Bharat Udai Yatra’ through Rajasthan also galvanised BJP cadres. The Singh-Kalla duo of the Congress are also trying hard to get their party cadres out of the gloom of defeat in the assembly polls. (PTI) Terrorism could be peacetime equivalent of war crimes: SC NEW DELHI, Apr 6: The Supreme Court has ruled that acts of terrorism could be defined as "peacetime equivalents of war crimes" and upheld the conviction and life sentence given to 18 activists of a banned organisation under TADA for the attack on police in Jehanabad in Bihar in 1988. "If the core of war crimes - deliberate attacks on civilians, hostage taking and the killing of prisoners - is extended to peacetime, we could simply define acts of terrorism veritably as `peacetime equivalents of war crimes’," a bench comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat said in a recent judgement. The accused persons were tried for attacking a police party at village Bhadasi in Jehanabad and killing a police personnel and injuring several others. Upholding the life sentence imposed on the accused by the TADA court, the Apex Court said "the unlawful assembly’s common object was to resist the enforcement of law, and to commit criminal offences and to over awe authorities/public servants by use and show of criminal force stood firmly established on the evidence on record." Justice Pasayat, writing for the bench, said a terrorist activity does not merely arise by causing disturbance of law and order or of public order. "The fallout of the intended activity is to be one that it travels beyond the capacity of the ordinary law enforcement agencies to tackle it under the ordinary penal law. It is in essence a deliberate and systematic use of coercive intimidation," he said. The Court, after going through numerous international records, observed that finding a definition of "terrorism" has haunted the countries for decades. "The United Nations member states still have no agreed-upon definition apparently on account of what at times reveal to be state-sponsored terrorism, both at national and international levels," the bench said. The lack of agreement on a definition of terrorism has been a major obstacle to meaningful international counter-measures, Justice Pasayat inferred. Warning against a narrow meaning by some advocates, the Apex Court said "if terrorism is defined strictly in terms of attacks on non-military targets, a number of attacks on militaty installations and soldiers; residences could not be included in the statistics". Noting that even the US Government had not agreed on one single definition of terrorism, the bench said "the old adage `one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ is still alive and well." The bench said it was a common feature that hardened criminals today take advantage of the situation and by wearing the cloak of terrorism, aim to achieve acceptability and respectability in the society. "This is because in different parts of the country affected by militancy, a terrorist is projected as a hero by a group and often unfortunately even by many misguided youth," it said. (PTI) Mamata, Nafisa’s charm and CPI(M)’s organisation KOLKATA, Apr 6: Few will doubt nationalist Congress leader Mamata Bannerjee’s fifth consecutive win from the Calcutta south Lok Sabha constituency, known for its anti-left bias, despite her ebbing popularity curve due to a "credibility crisis." Her main rivals in the constituency which she won by a margin of 2,14,008 votes in the last polls, are CPI(M)’s party organiser and chief whip of the Left front in the West Bengal assembly robin deb and former Miss India, Congress’s Nafisa Ali. The question doing the rounds is whether Mamata, despite been known to be the "lone opposition voice" against CPI(M)’s "misrule," would be able to retain her victory margin given her ebbing popularity curve. After the meteoric rise since 1984, her graph has fallen since 2001, thanks to the credibility crisis and whimsical decisions. Her tying-up with Congress before the West Bengal assembly elections, deserting the BJP-led NDA and then eating humble pie and returning six months later to the NDA fold when her experiment to oust the Marxist from power failed has contributed to her slide. Mamata parted ways with the Congress in 1998 and floated the Trinamool Congress just before Sonia Gandhi took over the reins. Mamata allied with the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections to fight the left front in West Bengal. Mamata on whose Charisma the party’s success depends led her party to win seven Lok Sabha seats in 1998 when her TC fought the elections in alliance with BJP. Similarly, in 1999 her party improved its performance garnering eight seats and won another by wresting the Panskura seat from the CPI(M) in a by-election next year. Mamata saw her popularity graph rise further when her party wrested control from the Left front over the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 2000. Thereafter since 2001 she began a downward journey losing elections one after another. Last year her party suffered a humiliating defeat in the Panchayat elections, lost the Nabadwip Lok Sabha seat and some other by-elections. Mamata has already met party workers in all the seven assembly constituencies including Rashbehari, Chowringhee, Alipur, Tollygunge, Dhakuria and Sonarpur, Ballygunge. Except Ballygunge which is represented by deb, all other six assembly seats are held by Trinamool Congress. In each of these meetings, Mamata has asked party workers to carry the message to voters that if she become a Union Minister again, it would help the people of West Bengal. Emphasis was laid on how Mamata used her MP’s local area development fund. Her rivals deb and Ali are equally optimistic about their respective victories. "Mamata has had her place in history. I now want to be a part of history too," Nafisa, the former Miss India told PTI. "I have no grouse against Mamata. I have admired her as a people’s leader and no doubt, she has worked hard over the past 20 years. But what I cannot understand is why a fighter like her has aligned with the BJP." But how does Nafisa, who is also former national swimming champion hope to woo the grassroot level? "Well, people have interacted with Mamata over the years and now feel they have formed a bond with her. But I hope that once they meet me, they will understand that I am like Mamata’s Bordidi (elder sister). They will learn to trust me too. I hope." Though Mamata shrugged off Congress’s suprise move to field Nafisa in her constituency, saying she was not a competitor, a section of her party leaders were worried about former Miss India’s charm and what it could do to the middle and upper middle class voters. That Nafisa wanted to highlight the issues relating to minorities was also a matter of concern for Trinamool being in the BJP-led NDA. The decision by CPI(M) to field MLA deb in the constituency has also sent jitters down some spines. Deb’s emphasis during campaign in the constituency is mass contact. He is also highlighting the "inconsistent and opportunistic political postures" of Mamata, her deserting the NDA and then joining it again. CPI(M) is hoping that if Nafisa could garner increased congress votes this time, the party stood to gain from a division of anti-left votes. (PTI) Advani attacks "third front" parties KANPUR, Apr 5: In a scathing attack on the "third front", Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today said these parties have "no relevance" at the national level and they have "vested interest in political uncertainty". "The third front parties have no relevance at the national level. They have developed a vested interest in political uncertainty because that is the only way to save their existence and make themselves relevant," he told reporters here on 24th day of his `Bharat Uday Yatra’. Claiming that there was "acute political instability" before Atal Bihari Vajpayee took over as the Prime Minister, Advani said "these parties, draw their strengths from casteism and sectarianism. They are bereft of political issues and that people should show them their place". "On the other hand, we aim to strengthen democracy and make the country a developed state," he said. On Congress, the Deputy Prime Minister said it has "lost relevance in large states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In UP our main opponents are Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party and not Congress". Reacting to Congress’ charges that the Union Home Ministry had imported "inferior" AK-47 rifles, Advani said the purchase has been done "sincerely". "It has been processed honestly but I will look into the relevant papers," he said. Advani said "a repetition of the United Front experience of 1996-98 will destory good governance, subvert development and put paid to India’s hope of emerging as a developed economy and a global power by 2020". He said "the present state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh does not inspire confidence in our opponents’ ability to provide good governance". "Apart from mobilising along sectarial lines, our opponents in UP have no programme. Yet they have attached a great deal of importance to the Lok Sabha elections with the Chief Minister personally joining the contest". On the Election Commission’s role vis-a-vis political advertisements, Advani said the best way to sort out the issue is to consult all political parties and arrive at a consensus. To a question on Syed Shahabuddin joining Congress, he said it is "not worthy of comment". On the vexed Ayodhya issue, he said it could be resolved through consensus which would have a long-term impact on Hindu-Muslim relationship. The court verdict as well as the Parliamentary resolution "would not give enduring solution", he added. Advani also appreciated the contributions made by Kanchi Shankaracharya and the Dalai Lama to resolve the issue. The Deputy Prime Minister talked of having free and fair polls saying "it was due to free and fair elections in Jammu and Kashmir that the Government has been able to bring a positive turnaround in talks to resolve the Valley’s issues". On Gujurat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s reported regret over his remarks about Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, Advani said Modi has said "even good bowlers can sometimes ball no-balls". (PTI) |
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