New Delhi, October 9
Bharatiya Janata Party President M Venkaiah Naidu today urged the Election Commission to announce dates for the Gujarat Assembly elections at the earliest.
“I am neither pressurising the commission nor forcing them to hold elections and there is no reason for adopting the path of confrontation. All we want is that the Election Commission announce the date at the earliest for the elections to the Gujarat Assembly”, Mr Naidu said after his visit to Ahmedabad yesterday in the company of Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani.
The BJP President said there was normal political activity in the state and “we feel the people should not be deprived of their democratic rights.
Reminding that the commission had not announced anything yet regarding the Assembly elections in Gujarat, Mr Naidu said “I am asking for the schedule. Election should be held at the earliest. It is for the state government and the commission to work out the schedule”.
Asked whether he was concerned about the delay in Assembly elections would affect the electoral prospects of his party, Mr Naidu said “we are least worried and we will win the Assembly elections.
“I am only concerned as a political party for I want a mandate from the people at the earliest so that this uncertainty is ended. Now that Jammu and Kashmir elections are over, let us now focus attention on Gujarat”, he said.
Earlier, Mr Naidu lashed out at the Congress for making a fuss over President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam attending a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at his residence on Sunday. Mr Naidu cited previous occasions when presidents accepted such invitations from prime ministers.
He quoted from former President R. Venkataraman’s book “My Presidential Years” in which he talked about the dinner hosted by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his meeting with him after dinner in which he discussed the postal Bill.
Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had also hosted two dinners which were attended by the former presidents, he stated.
Mr Naidu said the Congress frustration was evident as they were trying to politicise a non-issue. “What is wrong in the President accepting the invitation,” he asked the Congress.
He was also critical of the demonstrations by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi in front of the Prime Minister’s house. It is unbecoming that Chief Ministers stage protest and court arrest like this, Mr Naidu said.
The gimmick was aimed at diverting the people’s attention from the failure of their respective governments. It seemed that Mr Jogi was rehearsing the role of an Opposition leader by courting arrest in Delhi and then organising the day-long Chhattisgarh bandh. This was not what he was chosen for by the people, he stated.
Mr Naidu claimed that the Prime Minister had given time to Mr Jogi for the meeting but instead he chose to sit on dharna at 7 Race Course Road.
He also asked the Congress to clear its stand on the ordinance issued by the Tamil Nadu Government on conversion. The BJP, he said, felt that it was a commendable step taken by the Jayalalithaa government which will go a long way in strengthening unity and maintaining communal harmony in the country. He said his party would like other political parties to come up with similar legislations in states ruled by them.
It is strange that the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and in Orissa had enacted such a legislation but were opposing it in Tamil Nadu, which shows its “double standards”.
