PUNE, February 23: THE Maratha leadership lost the fourth battle of Panipat without even fighting it when a stalwart like Sharad Pawar submitted his allegiance to Sonia Gandhi, stated senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj while addressing a rally at Walchandnagar.She addressed two rallies at Walchandnagar and Baramati for the campaign of BJP-Sena alliance candidate advocate Viraj Kakade who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Baramati against Congress stalwart Sharad Pawar.The nation had not expected such an act of surrender from Pawar, said Swaraj, who later went on to add that by committing such an act Pawar had humiliated ``Maratha pride''. The common people will not forgive the Maratha leadership for this, she felt.
Elaborating as to why Sonia Gandhi was being opposed and termed a foreigner, she said Sonia does not know the culture and tradition of this country. ``As against her, our leadership (prime ministerial candidate Atal Behari Vajpayee) is born here, knows the country and is not linked withany scam,'' she said.
Terming the dismissal of Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh as ``a very unfortunate incident,'' Swaraj said the Governor of the State, Romesh Bhandari, was the main culprit behind it.
Reminding the electorate that this was the fourth election in the last nine years, she highlighted the demerits of an unstable government. ``A khichadi government like the United Front which has no absolute majority cannot provide good governance and cannot lead the nation on the path of economic progress. Even the security of the country is threatened when such governments are in power,'' she claimed.
The United Front prime ministers had no time to run the government, claimed Swaraj adding that the prime minister would always be busy in the UF's steering committee meetings.
Appealing to voters to remember May 28, 1996 when the Vajpayee-led BJP government was defeated on the floor of Parliament, she accused Congress of robbing the mandate which she felt was in favour of BJP. ``To avoid anysuch mockery this time the citizens will vote in favour of BJP, being the only party capable of providing a stable government,'' she said.
The meeting, attended by former MP Shankarrao Patil, Minister of State for Agriculture Harshavardhan Patil was however marked by the absence of BJP-Sena alliance candidate Advocate Viraj Kakade.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
