M A I N   N E W S

Sonia kicks off poll campaign
Flays Modi’s ‘gaurav yatra’

Villagers watch the helicopter of Congress President Sonia Gandhi as she arrives to address an election rally at Hadod village in Gujarat on Tuesday. — PTI photo

Hadod (Gujarat), December 3
After offering prayers at the famous Ambaji temple near here, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today launched her party’s election campaign in Gujarat, accusing the BJP of trying to retain power through “communal divide” and creating a terror syndrome.

Arriving here from Delhi, Mrs Gandhi went straight to the Ambaji temple and performed puja for some time, which was dismissed by GPCC President Shankarsinh Vaghela as a normal thing for any visitor to do in the town.

Kicking off the campaign in the tribal-dominated Sabarkantha district bordering Rajasthan, she targeted Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the Vajpayee government at the Centre, attacking them of “failure” to check terrorism.

She also took exception to terrorism being raised as an election issue in Gujarat and lambasted Mr Modi’s controversial “gaurav yatra” saying, that “the BJP’s language does not have gaurav at all.”

She charged the party with spreading terror and fear among people through “communal divide” and said “hate, destruction and backwardness is not the gaurav of Gujarat which has always set an example for the entire country.”

Taking a dig at the BJP for claiming to be the custodian of patriotism, Mrs Gandhi said issues like terrorism and Pakistan concerned the entire country and not the state.

“It is the Centre’s responsibility to deal with these. The BJP is in power at the Centre....The Congress has always extended full support both inside and outside Parliament on this,” said Mrs Gandhi.

In an obvious attack on the Prime Minister’s recent statement on the possibility of more militant attacks on temples, she said “if the Centre has full information why is it not taking necessary steps to counter these.”

Later, addressing another rally at Surendranagar in the Saurashtra region, a stronghold of the ruling party, the Congress President charged the BJP with “playing a fraud” on the people of Gujarat in the last two Assembly elections for political gains. UNI

Advani sees BJP wind in Gujarat
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 3
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani said today that though the political wind was in favour of the BJP in Gujarat, yet the party MPs should not become complacent and should supplement the party’s efforts to pull off a victory in the coming elections.

Presiding over the weekly BJP Parliamentary Party meeting, Mr Advani expressed confidence that the situation in Gujarat was certainly good and the popular mood was in favour of the BJP. The disinformation campaign by the political opponents had failed to work and a win in the state would give a new direction to the polity of the nation, he said.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is the parliamentary party leader, did not preside over the meeting as he was busy with Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s visit.

Mr Advani said the MPs could not be complacent about Gujarat elections and would have to work in areas where they could chip in to help the party retain power in the state. He also asked the MPs to be present in Parliament to defend the policies of the government during debates.

Briefing newspersons about the meeting, BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said several BJP MPs raised the issue of the government waiving interest on farm loans for the current year as this was an exceptionally bad drought year.

The party had also asked the MPs to give suggestions to the BJP committee constituted to study the recommendations of the Kelkar Committee report on direct taxes. The suggestions should be in tune with the party line and should not add to the burden on the poor and middle classes, he said.

In another development, Professor Malhotra said the Congress was the “B-team of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad” since it was using “sants” in the Gujarat Assembly election campaign.

While the party was accusing the BJP of playing the Hindu card, it was freely playing with the Hindu sentiments, using the services of “sadhus and sants” for the election campaign to outdo the BJP, he observed, adding that such tactics would not help the Congress win the elections, he said.

Professor Malhotra also accused the Congress of towing the BJP line on some issues, giving an impression as if it was the “B-team of the BJP”. Even in this game the Congress will not succeed because the people would prefer the “A-team”, he contended.