M A I N   N E W S

BJP President calls Cong fascist
Sonia’s utterances “irresponsible”
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 24
BJP President K. Jana Krishnamurthi launched a frontal attack on the Congress, terming the country’s principal opposition party as “fascist”.

In his first presidential address, Mr Krishnamurthi said, " The hysterical reaction of the Congress President to the tehelka.com allegations does not behove a responsible leader of a responsible opposition party.... A democratic party true to fascist demand says, ‘we demand you get out’.

“The Congress, which should function with a sense of responsibility as an opposition in democracy, has chosen to play a negative role, both inside and outside Parliament.

“Blind opposition, intense hatred for the BJP, unbridled ambition for power, an irresponsible leadership, which flouts with impunity democratic norms and traditions, have become the hallmark of the Congress”, he said, adding that “it has allowed itself to be overcome by despondency and hence has become desperate”.

Later, the BJP, in its political resolution, described the Tehelka revelations as part of a well thought-out design “to destabilise the economy, the nation’s defence, leadership and the social fabric”.

Continuing with its attack on the Congress, the political resolution said it “is known for its institutionalisation of corruption in politics. And the funding of politics in the Congress has been made to suit the individual conveniences within it. It created a morass out of politics.

“It is ironical that the Congress is lecturing about moral standards in politics. It’s past two Prime Ministers have been accused of corruption. One has been convicted and the other is in column No. 2 of the Bofors’ charge sheet. Even today it is preparing for elections in Tamil Nadu under the leadership of a person convicted in a corruption case. All 23 Congress MLAs are ministers to sustain a corrupt government in Bihar”, the resolution added.

Taking a strong exception to the irresponsible statements of Congress President Sonia Gandhi in her speech at the Bangalore AICC session, wherein she called the Prime Minister and his colleagues in the government as “traitors”and to take the battle to streets, the resolution said the Congress had vainly tried to “expose” the BJP’s commitment to national security by trivialising national security issues, thereby unwittingly contributing to the lowering of India’s standing abroad.

In an effort to silence the critics, the resolution said former party President Bangaru Laxman had set a high tradition by resigning from the post the moment a charge was levelled against him.

Trying to put the party back on a high moral pedestal, the resolution said, “The party is greater than individual and the individual’s interest is always subordinate to party’s interests. This is what the BJP means when it says Nation first, party next”.

“The Opposition knowing well that this NDA government has become stable under Mr Vajpayee and that it has come to stay for full five years is desperate to circumvent the people’s mandate given in free and fair election and compel the government to oblige them by resigning. Some political parties are attempting to create instability in the country by asking a government with a popular mandate and a parliamentary majority to quit”, the resolution said, adding that “there agenda is chaos and the BJP shall prevent the nation from being inflicted with this malady”.

Quoting from the Prime Minister’s address to the nation after the Tehelka revelations, the resolution assured the people that the BJP was for “upholding the purity of public life and that there will be no compromise on this”.

Earlier, the party President gave clear signals of the BJP’s strategy for the coming assembly elections. He said the party was determined to see that both in Kerala and West Bengal the Leftist governments get defeated at the hands of the electorate . “Our strategy in those two states shall be to secure the twin objectives of ending the Marxist rule so that the interest of the people of the states gets best- served and seeking the best interest of our party”, he said.

Mr Krishnamurthi also made a point to repeat the party’s old formulation for keeping the NDA allies together when he said the NDA partners should observe “Dharma of coalition”.

Union Home Minister L.K. Advani also addressed the meeting, saying that “the situation arising out of the Tehelka tapes clearly shows that there is a sinster conspiracy to destabilise the Vajpayee government by anti-democratic means”.

An economic resolution was moved today, which would be adopted tomorrow. The Prime Minister is expected to address the meeting tomorrow before Mr Krishnamurthi makes his concluding speech.

The party has taken care this time to rein in the media as it held its press briefing not at the venue of the meeting, i.e. Parliament annexe, where such briefings used to be held in the past.

Mediapersons used to get an opportunity to interact with National Executive members while going to attend the party’s media briefings. This type, the mediapersons were kept out of the venue.