M A I N   N E W S

No differences in NDA: Advani

NEW DELHI, Dec 25 (PTI) — Home Minister L.K. Advani has ruled out instability or differences within the NDA in the wake of the Ayodhya controversy and said the recent defeat of the censure motion in the Lok Sabha had given a “sense of stability”.

He dismissed the talk of mid-term elections in political circles following the projection of the Ayodhya issue in the centrestage of politics and discounted the possibility of allies deserting the BJP on the Ayodhya issue.

“Such reports can make good copy and headlines. Why should we have mid-term elections. It (the victory in the Lok Sabha on the censure motion) has given us a sense of stability because our opponents felt that on the Ayodhya issue our allies would not support us. They also forced a division,” Mr Advani said in an exclusive interview to PTI.

“Not at all,” he shot back when asked if he felt insecure about the allies remaining with the BJP in view of certain statements made by them despite their support in the Lok Sabha.

Specifically asked whether Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee would stick with the NDA in the wake of her reported overtures to the Congress, he said the allies, including the Trinamool Congress, were with the NDA.

Mr Advani dismissed talk of differences between him and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the Ayodhya issue. “Our stand has always been the same. We have never changed the stand.”

“What was earlier Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s stand that the ministers chargesheeted in the course of a political campaign would not be asked to resign became the NDA’s stand and later still the Lok Sabha’s stand,” he said.

On the tone and tenor of the criticism made by the allies, Mr Advani said, “That is a different matter because the issue was not raised by us. It (NDA agenda) is an agreed programme”.

Regarding reports that the BJP was trying to woo back the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, he expressed surprise, saying, “I don’t know from where they (reports) have come”.

Recalling that when the Vajpayee government was formed in 1998 one question that persisted was whether it would last, he said the issue became “sharply highlighted” after AIADMK leader Jayalalitha, who was the BJP’s ally in the general election, had held back the letter of support when the President had asked for it.

“So this kind of uncertainty dogged us for the entire year and the first quarter of the next year manifested itself in that ally breaking away and our losing a confidence vote in the House (Lok Sabha), though by a single vote.

“In contrast this year which followed the re-election of the Vajpayee government following a general election has not been marked by any such political uncertainty. In fact, it concluded with an aborted opposition gambit aimed at driving a wedge between NDA allies on the Ayodhya issue,” Mr Advani added.