Chandrashekhar sees hung ParliamentFormer Prime Minister Chandrashekhar on Sunday predicted a hung Parliament after the coming elections and said no party was going to get even a simple majority at the hustings. Addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, he said even an absolute majority was not a guarantee for a stable government, and added people's support was necessary to ensure stability of a government.
Mulayam terms Cong apology on Babri Masjid as wrong: Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday termed the Congress' apology on the demolition of the Babri Masjid as "wrong" since it "absolved the BJP of all its responsibility in the shameful act". "BJP was fully responsible for the demolition of the mosque and it cannot be absolved of it," he said.
Chidambaram to campaign for DMK-TMC in Pondy: Union finance minister P Chidambaram will campaign for the DMK-TMC˙ candidates for the lone Lok Sabha seat and the Oussudu assembly by-poll in Pondicherry on Feb 12.Stating this to reporters on Sunday, the chairman of the election campaign committee of TMC in Pondicherry, V Balaji, MLA, said Pondicherry home minister and TMC leader P Kannan would be campaigning for DMK candidate for Lok Sabha, S Arumugham, and the TMC candidate for the assembly seat, A Elumalai from Monday.
Cong's Jharkhand statehood promise false, says BJP: The BJP has said Sonia Gandhi's promise for separate Jharkhand state is an electoral˙ploy and a "premeditated bid by Congress to befool the˙people of Vananchal region". Party's state unit general secretary Saryu Rai said on Saturday, "had this promise been real the Congress would certainly have included the issue in its manifesto".
NPP to support Cong candidates: The Kashmir unit of National Panthers Party has decided to support Congress candidates from Srinagar and Leh parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir in the coming parliamentary elections, a party spokesman said. The decision was taken at a meeting of the officebearers of Kashmir unit of the party under the chairmanship of Mohammad Iqbal, provicial general secretary, he added. The party hoped the Congress will also extend support to the party president and candidate for Udhampur parliamentary constituency, Bhim Singh.
Kesri, Sonia to share stage in Nagpur, Mumbai: Congress president Sitaram Kesri and the party's star campaigner, Sonia Gandhi, whom he has described as the "focal point of power" in the organisation, would share the stage at public meetings in Nagpur on February 14 and Mumbai on February 22. The announcement was made on Sunday by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) in a release in Mumbai.
Karnataka CM attacks Cong, BJP: Karnataka chief minister J H Patel has attacked both the Congress and the BJP, saying the need of the hour was a government at the centre that could work for the people. Addressing a public meeting at old Hubli area on Saturday, Patel came down heavily on the BJP's election manifesto. Union humanresources development minister S R Bommai, Bangalore development minister Anant Nag, cooperation minister S S Patil and Shankaranna Munavalli, Janata Dal candidate for Dharward-north seat, also spoke on the occasion.
Advani to campaign on Feb 14 in TN: BJP president L K Advani would be reaching Marthandam in Kanyakumari district to address an election meeting on February 14. State general secretary L Ganesan told reporters in Chennai that Advani would address another meeting at Mettupalayam and in the evening of the same day he would address meetings in Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli. At the Tiruchirapalli meeting, a common platform would be shared by AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha and Advani, he said.
BJP will prosecute `corrupt' Cong leaders: Vajpayee BJP party leader Atal Behari Vajpayee on Sunday said his party, if voted to power, would initiate steps to try the "corrupt" Congress leaders and accused the party (Congress) of pulling down the Gujral government "because it feared thetruth" regarding the Bofors scam was about to come out. "Congress leaders were involved in various scams including those relating to Bofors deal, urea deal, submarine deal. If BJP comes to power, we will initiate cases against all the corrupt Congress leaders," Vajpayee said addressing election rallies at Ludhiana and Moga.
Star struck BJP: In an effort to capture all the seven Lok Sabha seats from Delhi, the BJP has roped in a number of cine stars and sportsmen for campaigning in the capital. Among the prominent stars to campaign for the party are Vinod Khanna, who is also the party candidate for Gurdaspur in Punjab, Rajya Sabha member Shatrughan Sinha and Dara Singh, who recently joined the party, and former Indian hockey captain Ajit Pal Singh and hockey player Aslam Sher Khan. The Delhi BJP today announced that Khanna and Dara Singh would undertake padyatras with BJP vice-president and party candidate from the Delhi Sadar constituency Madan Lal Khurana for electioneeering besides addressingseveral public meetings in various other constituencies.y
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
