NEW DELHI, February 25: The Bharatiya Janata Party today decried post-election alliances as ``unnatural and opportunistic'', warning voters that an anti-BJP axis was being formed between the Congress and the United Front. The party also demanded repolling in 181 booths in Sambhal, from where Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is seeking election to the Lok Sabha.A delegation of BJP leaders met Election Commissioner G V G Krishnamurty today complaining that SP workers had indulged in large-scale rigging in Sambhal.
The BJP candidate from Sambhal, D P Yadav, has also registered a complaint with the EC. Addressing a press conference this afternoon, he alleged that thousands of ballot papers had been found scattered outside many polling booths all with stamps on the SP's `cycle' symbol. Alleging administrative collusion, he said no official had reported the irregularities to the EC. Yadav alleged that Mulayam had engineered the downfall of the Kalyan Singh government solely to ensure his victoryfrom Sambhal. Yadav has asked for an inquiry into the booths where over 90 per cent voting has been recorded.
Meanwhile, BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu was hard-pressed to explain how the BJP could call post-poll alliances opportunistic when his own party had forged a similar alliance with the Loktantrik Congress and the breakaway BSP group in Uttar Pradesh. Journalists reminded him that the BJP had also entered into a post-election alliance with Mayawati in order to form a government after the UP Assembly elections last year.
Reacting to reports of the President writing to Prime Minister I K Gujral seeking his advice on Bhandari, Naidu said this showed that the President had lost confidence in Bhandari. ``It is surprising that the Prime Minister has advised the Governor to resign of his own accord since it is obvious that he will not do so,'' he remarked.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
