Joshi, who was here on a two-day official visit, asserted that there was a need for amendment of the constitution to prevent the occupying of top positions in the country, particularly those of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and chiefs of defence force.

``Now foreign origin is not an issue merely of the BJP or the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), it has turned out to be a people's issue,'' he pointed out and felt that it would figure prominently in the coming elections.

He said that the BJP and its allies would emerge winners in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for September.

The party had proved that nobody could provide a stable government at the centre and hence there was no alternative to the BJP-led government in Delhi. ``People of the country haveseen those persons helplessly, who tried to form a non-BJP government at the centre in the wake of the loss of the no-confidence motion by Vajpayee government in Parliament,'' he pointed out, and said that the people were also annoyed with the Congress and other non-BJP forces for preventing Vajpayee from completing his tenure. ``The people will certainly teach a lesson to these forces in the coming elections,'' he said.

Answering a question, the Union Minister said that the ongoing action against Pakistan-backed infiltrators in Kargil sector of Jammu and Kashmir would be kept above politics and not made an issue in the coming Lok Sabha elections. ``Most of the job has been done and we will soon be back at the Line of Control (LoC),'' he asserted.

He pointed out that most of the major countries in the world, including Russia, have sided with India on the Kargil issue. ``Our job is just to flush out the infiltrators from the border area,'' he added.

Denying that there was any demoralisation in thedefence services due to repeated contradictory statements by Union ministers, he said ``our jawans and officers dare doing an excellent job at Kargil.''

According to him, the reported statement of Defence Minister George Fernandes that infiltrators would be given a `safe passage', was misquoted by the media. ``Fernandes has already clarified it,'' he further added.To another question, he made it clear that there was no dispute between him and his deputy Uma Bharati.