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Talks may not yield much: BJP

BJP chief Jana Krishnamurthy addressing a press conference while his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Kalraj Mishra looks on at Saharanpur on Friday.  — PTI photo

Saharanpur, June 15
The BJP chief, Mr K. Jana Krishnamurthy has warned against holding too many expectations from the Indo-Pak summit of next month.

“It would be great if the talks could achieve a reduction in violence on the border,’’ he, however, said when asked about his expectations from the meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Krishamurthy told reporters that he expected no breakthroughs, but the talks would help strengthen efforts towards peace in the region.

He said attempts were being made to create hurdles in the path of the talks in Pakistan.

To a question, he said he had received no proposal for the inclusion of Mr Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The party’s central leadership would take a decision on poll alliances only after consultations with the state unit, he added.

Mr Krishnamurthy clarified that the NDA programme did not give scope for a further division of any state. There is no proposal to carve out any new states out of UP, he said.

Meanwhile the two-day executive meeting of the BJP’s UP unit began today to firm up its strategy for the coming assembly elections in the state.

The executive will mull over party programmes and work out details to achieve greater cohesion between the party and the government.

The meeting, being attended by BJP President K. Jana Krishnamurthy, Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, state BJP chief Kalraj Mishra and UP Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, is also expected to finalise the party’s alliance partners for the elections. On the agenda is also a discussion on the downsizing of the alliance and the inclusion of the Rashtriya Lok Dal-led by Mr Ajit Singh.

The party think-tank believes that the party will comfortably form the next government if it was able to retain its 1996 vote base. “To retain our base and expand it, is our aim,’’ party Spokesman Sunil Shastri said.

Among the issues that will be discussed include an alliance formula that will accommodate the existing allies. The proposal is to allow these parties to contest in places where they stood second in the last Assembly elections.

While the party feels that this formula will satisfy the allies, a section of the party is of the view that only serious contenders be accommodated. They are also sceptical that the allied parties are basically breakaway groups with little chance of getting re-elected. The party is also facing demands for inducting 25 to 30 fresh faces within the BJP. UNI

I have open mind: Musharraf

Islamabad, June 15
Pakistan’s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf tonight said his country was willing to allow the Indo-Iranian gas pipeline to run through its territory and declared he was going to India for talks with an “open mind” to “change history.”

“If they want the pipeline, we are prepared. Pakistan is willing to permit laying of the pipeline through its territory,” he said in a live interaction with a panel discussion over radio and television this evening. 

He said progress in bilateral relations could be made if there was open mindedness. “History has shown that we have not moved forward on the major issues. But I think that we can change history if the Indian leaders also show open mindedness and we can have a new beginning.” PTI