M A I N   N E W S

PM seeks mandate for stability

Farrukhabad, April 28
Seeking a mandate for political stability, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today hit out at the Opposition parties saying their leaders seemed to be more interested in coming to power than providing good governance.

Lambasting the Opposition parties, he said its leaders have already begun staking claims to the top post. “There is no dearth of PMs, but the need is for working together as a team.”

“It is not a question of forming a government... but to give the nation political stability,” Mr Vajpayee said at an election rally in an apparent reference to exit polls that forecast a hung house and sent the sensex into a tailspin.

Asking the people to make a judicious choice, the Prime Minister claimed that he had succeeded in providing a stable “non-Congress” alternative government that ran its full course at the Centre.

“You need a vision to make India a developed country. Today that dream is about to come true,” he said enumerating the economic achievements of the BJP-led NDA government.

Taking a dig at Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s reported remarks that the NDA had ruined the nation, Mr Vajpayee without naming her said “You have come today... What is the basis of your charge.”

The world was lauding India and recognising its emergence as an ecnomic power. “And they (Congress) say, we have ruined the nation,” he said.

From a food-importing nation, India has become a grain-exporting country, inflation is under control, and foreign exchange reserves have touched a new high, he said adding exports had also soared during the NDA regime.

He also praised the farmer community for record foodgrain production, which had made India a grain-surplus nation and self-reliant in the field. — PTI