PM ready for trial of strength

NEW DELHI, MARCH 18. Going on the offensive, the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, today rejected the Opposition demand for his resignation and dared them for a trial of strength in Parliament as the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi declared a war to `liberate' the country from the `shackles of shameful corrupt and communal' NDA coalition.

As Parliament, paralysed over Tehelka expose, meets tomorrow after the weekend, the Prime Minister chose a party rally at Rawatbhatta in Rajashthan to accuse the Congress of shying away from a vote in Parliament.

``They wanted a probe and wanted resignations. After Ms. Jaya Jaitly, Mr. Bangaru Laxman and Mr. George Fernandes resigned, they said the probe is over and now the Government should resign. Without facing a trial of strength, they want a readily-cooked food. But this is not possible,'' Mr. Vajpayee said.

Our Special Correspondent reports:

The NDA plans to begin a campaign to counter the fall-out of Tehelka tapes expose during the recesses period of Parliament.

The NDA convenor, Mr. George Fernandes, who met the Prime Minister here this evening, said the campaign would be launched on March 23, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia. Covering all State Capitals and major population centres the campaign would continue till April 16, he said.

The Samata Party spokesman, Dr. Shambhu Shrivastwa said a meeting would be held in Delhi on March 25. It is expected to be addressed by Mr. Vajpayee and other NDA leaders.

Sonia has no right to question us: BJP

NEW DELHI, MARCH 18. The Bharatiya Janata Party today lashed out at the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, for demanding the resignation of the Vajpayee Government on ``moral grounds''. Mr. Jana Krishnamurthi, BJP president, reminded Ms. Gandhi that she had not articulated the need for Rajiv Gandhi to resign after the Bofors scandal erupted, nor had her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, offered to step down after the Nagarwala scam. Even when numerous scandals rocked the Narasimha Government, Ms. Gandhi had never expressed the view that he should step down.

The party was critical of the Opposition for blocking a debate in Parliament, for not wanting to wait for the judicial inquiry to complete its work, and for going against all norms of parliamentary functioning.

As always, the BJP president, covered the obvious holes in the security set-up that the Tehelka tapes have revealed by pointing out that no one can question the personal integrity of the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee.

What seems to have stung the party more than anything else is the Congress charge that the BJP-led Government has committed an act of treason. ``Yeh desh ke saath dhokha aur gaddari hai'' the party stated in Bangalore where the AICC plenary session has just ended.

``Only the Congress can say that a foreigner has become a patriot and a nationalist a traitor,'' Mr. Krishnamurthi said. The party tried, despite the worst ever scandal, to project that nationalism and patriotism were its monopolies.

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