M A I N   N E W S

No common manifesto, says BJP

NEW DELHI, Jan 12 (UNI) — The BJP said today it would not have any common manifesto for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, Haryana, Orissa and Manipur, but would like to share platform with its allies during the campaign.

Talking to newspersons here, BJP Vice-President J.P. Mathur said the Haryana unit of the party was in constant touch with the headquarters on the issue of sharing seats with the INLD. He expressed hope that the present controversy of seat sharing with the INLD would be resolved amicably much before the date of nomination.

It may be mentioned here that INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala had turned down the proposal of the BJP to share the seats equally asserting that the latter would not get more than 25 out of the 90 Assembly seats.

As a retaliation move, the Haryana unit of the party came out with a statement asserting that it would not hesitate to go alone if the seat sharing on equal basis did not materialise.

Mr Mathur explained that in Bihar, the three parties — the BJP, Samata and JD(U) — are fighting the elections on their own symbols. Therefore, there cannot be any common manifesto. He also made it clear that the party was not projecting any one leader as Chief Minister either in Bihar or Orissa.