Mumbai, Feb 25: BJP prime ministerial candidate Atal Behari Vajpayee on Wednesday appealed to the dalits and minorities "to vote for BJP to form a stable, strong and honest government at the centre."At a mammoth campaign rally at the Shivaji Park for Shiv Sena-BJP alliance candidates in Mumbai, Vajpayee said the BJP assures genuine secularism and samajik samarasata (social harmony). "We will make you equal partners in building a new India," he said.
Vajpayee, who was speaking from a specially erected dais with a replica of Lak Quilla (red fort), termed the Congress party's alliance with Republican Party of India and Samajwadi Party in Maharashtra as "dishonest" one. He alleged that the Congress had entered into this unholy alliance with a sole purpose of attracting muslim and dalit votes. "But Congress party's track record shows that the party has only used muslims and often dalits and tribals, too, as assured voted banks in elections, only to be subjected to callous neglect once it ensconsed itself inpower," he said.
He said the United Front's experiment at the centre and the conspiracy to murder democracy in Uttar Pradesh have shown that India cannot be rid of such menace unless people elect a "stable, strong and honest government in New delhi." "The Congress party's threat to repeat UP in Maharashtra after the elections is a warning to the democracy-loving people of this state," he cautioned.
"Only the BJP, along with its allies, can provide the kind of stable, strong and honest government India needs," Vajpayee reiterated and called upon the voters to give BJP and its allies a chance. The BJP leader criticised UP governor Romesh Bhandari for dismissing the Kalyan Singh government without giving a chance to prove a majority on the floor of house. He said the "Kalyan Singh, whose government has been reinstated by the high court, will prove majority soon."
Vajpayee said his party, if voted to power, was vowed to eliminate corruption and introduce the Lok Pal bill covering the prime minister in itsjurisdiction. "The burgeoning corruption has been a major hurdle in the development of country," he added. Vajpayee said the Congress star campaigner Sonia Gandhi should have to clarify her stand on the vexed issues like Bofors and other corruption cases taken place during the Congress regimes. "Though Sonia has adopted the offence is the best defence policy, she will have to make her stand clear on these issues," he added.
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray reiterated that his party would not allow "pardeshi" Sonia Gandhi taking over the prime ministership especially when the country had got freedom from the pardeshi rakta (foreigners) after 150 years. "We will not allow the country being pledged to foreigner instead hoist Vajpayee on the prime minister's gaddi," Thackeray said.
Copyright(c)1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
