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Few women due to circumstances, says Khurana

Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president Madan Lal Khurana says circumstances forced the party to field only a few women candidates in the Lok Sabha election, although the BJP was all for the 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament.

He was speaking in the context of the BJP, which fielded fewer women candidates in the polls this time round. The senior BJP leader said the party did not want to take any chance as the other parties were unwilling to field more women nominees.

''In principle, the BJP wants to implement the 33 per cent reservation. However, the present atmosphere did not permit us to give women 33 per cent representation in the election. However, once it becomes law, the BJP will be the first to implement it,''

He said once the BJP came to power, it would review all the 1984 anti-Sikh riots related complaints and have them reinvestigated. He declared Congress leaders like H K L Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler were booked by the police for their alleged involvement in the riots only due to the BJP's continuous tirade towards achieving the right of the Sikhs.

The Delhi government, he pointed out, had compensated the family of every riot victim with Rs 350,000, whereas the Congress regime had paid only Rs 20,000 to each affected family.

He said as many as 2,800 cases have already been settled and the remaining cases which were under process would be settled soon. The Delhi government had earmarked Rs 1 billion for this purpose, he added.

Khurana insisted there were no differences between him and Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma, as claimed by the Congress.

Describing his decision to contest from Delhi Sadar as a "home coming," he dismissed his Congress rival M M Aggarwal as a "novice" without roots among the people of the constituency.

Referring to the presence of cine and sports stars campaigning for the BJP, the party vice-president categorically declared that their presence did not indicate any doubt about the BJP winning. "They are helping us only to increase the margin.''

''Today, all the parties are bringing in cine and sports stars, why should we lag behind. It comes as a tonic to the party workers,'' he added.

On issues such as cow slaughter and the Ram temple construction being mentioned in the manifesto, he only referred to the other issues talked about.

He declared that Muslims have realised their situation and would certainly not allow themselves to be used as a mere "vote bank." Instead, he hoped that they would vote for the BJP, which has always thought of their welfare.

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