Vajpayee halts rumours on BJP's PM nominee
R R Nair in New Delhi
Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial nominee Atal Bihari Vajpayee has set to rest speculation that he would be the 'prime minister only till the party comes to power'.
Clarifying the party's stand in a lighter way, Vajpayee said he would be the prime minister -- and not party president Lal Kishinchand Advani as was made out by the BJP's detractors -- even as the saffron brigade dumped the earlier strategy of going soft on Sonia.
The BJP and its allies unleashed a frontal attack on the Congress party's star campaigner at Monday's rally at Delhi's Ambedkar stadium.
At a public meeting which was addressed by five chief ministers among other national leaders, Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal questioned Sonia's motive in apologising to the Sikh community on the eve of the general election.
"Why didn't the Congress apologise earlier? Sonia says had her husband been alive he would not have let the Ayodhya incident take place. Her husband was alive when innocent Sikh boys, girls and old people were murdered. The Congress was responsible for the 1984 riots in Delhi. Why didn't he do anything? Why didn't
anyone apologise for Operation Blue Star?" asked Badal.
"Now she says sorry. When the Congressmen come to you for votes, you, too, tell them sorry," Badal quipped.
Sonia's country of birth, her inability to speak good Hindi, her lack of political experience and Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who is an accused in the Bofors case, were all referred to by various leaders.
''So Sonia wants the Bofors documents to be made public. The best way to do is to bring back Quattrocchi. He can give all the information. What is Sonia's special relationship with him? Let her answer that first. She says that several governments had come and gone and they had not concluded the investigation. How can they do it when they were all dependent on the Congress?" was how Samata Party chief George Fernandes countered Sonia's offensive on the Bofors issue.
As for Sonia's proclamation of arresting poverty, the BJP leaders pooh-poohed her suggestion.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said, "She doesn't know how the poor live in the villages of the country. What does she know about the drinking water problems of millions in the country? It was Nehru, Indira and Rajiv who ruled this country for almost 50 years. If there is poverty in this country, they and
the Congress are responsible. What has she been doing all these years to mitigate the misery of the poorest of the
poor?"
Maharashtra's Shiv Sena Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, quoting one of Vajpayee's poems, posed a question: ''Can she write such a poem? Let alone a poem, she can't even make a proper speech."
But the balancing act was that of Vajpayee's. Without referring to
Sonia, he stuck to the poll plank of stability with accountability.
His oratory kept the 25,000-strong crowd enraptured though he did not deviate from the issues which he has been raising earlier.
Vajpayee flayed the Congress for conspiring to topple governments whenever it was out of power. "We sat in the Opposition for 40 years and were a part of the nation-building process, but the Congress cannot exist without power. Now we are no longer untouchables, but the people are drifting away from the Congress and dare not touch it."
Religious amity was another issue which was referred to frequently.
Badal claimed the best example of the BJP's secular credentials is its alliance with the Akali Dal in Punjab. All the allies reiterated their faith in the BJP.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader J Jayalalitha and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik could not make it to the rally. Lok Shakthi leader Ramakrishna Hegde was represented by Jeevraj Alva.
The BJP wanted to convince the nation that it is no reactionary party with a medieval ethos. ''People were worried that the BJP-Shiv Sena government would play havoc with Bombay's metropolitan character after coming to power. However, Bombay is now more vibrant and peaceful. We don't indulge in vote bank politics. Hence there is peace in the states where we rule,'' said Vajpayee.
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