M A I N   N E W S

Vajpayee to mediate on SYL
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Feb 8 — The Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue will be resolved on the lines of the Cauvery issue with the Prime Minister acting as the mediator once the Assembly elections in the state are over and this assurance has come from the Prime Minister himself.

This was stated by Mr Narendra Modi, general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and who is in charge of Haryana affairs of the party while addressing at press conference here today.

He said with the withdrawal of candidature for the 90-seat Haryana Assembly already over, a true picture of the poll scenario and the candidates in the fray has emerged and that the BJP has formally “taken off” on the campaign in a handful of the constituencies. He added that the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and other key leaders would feature in the campaign for party candidates.

Mr Modi said the Congress was promoting an “Italian agenda” with negative politics as its base. He appeared positive that the party would win with a thumping majority and that the Assembly elections would be a repeat performance of the Lok Sabha elections in which the Congress stood nowhere in the final tally in Haryana. The BJP would be part of the government formed in alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal, he claimed.

Commenting on why no Jat candidate has found representation in the candidates’ list of the BJP, Mr Modi said the selection of candidates was such that all classes had been represented and that the alliance was to be seen as a whole. However, he adopted quite a contrary approach in justifying the necessity of two separate agendas of the BJP and the INLD in the coming elections. He stated that this was part of the strategy of the alliance to achieve success.

Avoiding answering most questions pertaining to the appointment of a Deputy Chief Minister, he said there was no debate on the matter and that people would know when the time is right. On the “Water” controversy, Mr Modi said the crew had been asked to pack up for the time being to defuse the tension and placate the people, though the decision of the Central Government in this regard was final. The bottomline of most such replies was that most of the actions of the party were part of the strategy.

Referring to the controversy on government employees being allowed to join the RSS, he said there was no circular, barring the employees from joining any party but the Congress brought in a discriminatory circular which barred employees from joining certain organisations in 1987 while protecting the rest.