Vajpayee ridicules Cong. challenge

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, APRIL 5. The Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, on Thursday accepted the Congress challenge on the Tehelka issue and declared that he would not oblige it with his resignation. He was addressing a well-attended public meeting organised by the National Democratic Alliance as part of the campaign to counter the Congress threat on the Tehelka exposures.

On March 18, the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, declared a ``war'' on the NDA Government at the Centre on the Tehelka issue at the AICC plenary session held in the city and questioned the patriotism of the Prime Minister. Speaking in Hindi, Mr. Vajpayee demanded to know on what Ms. Gandhi had declared a war. A war for power or for the chair? In lighter vein, he said the NDA did not have the kind of well-built members the Congress had in Parliament to enter into fisticuffs.

The coming elections in five State would be a litmus test for his Government, he said. The NDA had was seeking justice in the people's court which was the highest. The Congress, which fared badly in the by-elections held so far, was conspiring to come to power by any means. Not satisfied with over 45 years of power, it was displaying sheer avarice.

Mr. Vajpayee said he could not oblige the Congress with his resignation. He had come to occupy the chair of Prime Minister after decades of ``tapasya'' (penance), he said. However, he was not the one to cling to power. He had not hesitated to resign in 1996 and 1998. He charged the Congress with using the Tehelka tapes to destabilise the Government and also the entire political system.

Mr. Vajpayee wondered what more a Government could do under such circumstances - it had ordered a probe by a retired Supreme Court judge; Mr. George Fernandes had resigned as Defence Minister; and Mr. Bangaru Laxman and Ms. Jaya Jaitly quit as party presidents. The Government had in fact taken swift action. The Prime Minister pointed out that parties could not restrain from raising funds for their expenses. But there was a lacuna in the political system and ``we might have committed a mistake''. The NDA was prepared for a national debate on the issue of funding of political parties.

He noted that the Tehelka disclosures had come at a time when the NDA coalition was showing results. Barring some incidents, the situation was under control in Jammu and Kashmir, and even the U.N. Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, had backed India's stand on its relations with Pakistan.In his address, Mr. George Fernandes accused the Congress of attempting to come to power through deceit. In 1999, Ms. Gandhi had tried to hoodwink the President, Mr. K.R. Narayanan, by claiming that she had the support of 272 MPs. It turned out that she had only 235. The Government was facing Goebbellesian lies on the Tehelka issue and it was unfortunate that the media was lending credence to the campaign to destabilise the Government.

None could question his integrity, Mr. Fernandes said; though he was in public life for 52 years, he did not own even a TV set. He had not watched the Tehelka tapes being on TV. He had, however, gone through the transcripts. Unlike other trade union leaders who were accepting gifts from employees, he had not taken even a bicycle, Mr. Fernandes said, speaking in Kannada.

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