NDA plans campaign to counter 'malicious propaganda' by Oppn.

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MARCH 31. Bangalore has been chosen as the first among the four major cities where stalwarts of the NDA Government, including the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, will address public meetings to counter the "malicious propaganda" of the Opposition on the tehelka expose and to "project the correct picture".

The public meeting here will be held at the National High School grounds on April 5, Mr. Basavaraj Patil Sedam, President of the BJP State unit, who is coordinating the arrangements, told presspersons today. About one lakh people were expected to attend the meeting.

A meeting of the NDA allies held a few days ago in New Delhi had decided to hold such meetings at 50 centres in the country. The Prime Minister will address the meetings in Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Bangalore. Other leaders will participate in the meetings at the other centres.

When his attention was drawn to the statement of the leaders of the JD(U) State unit, a constituent of the NDA, that they would not attend the April 5 meeting, Mr. Sedam said he had just started contacting the various constituents. If one party does not want to participate in the meeting because of the local situation, nothing can be done about it, he said.

Mr. Sedam said a meeting of the office-bearers of the BJP State unit and those in charge of the district units would be held on April 6 to finalise the strategy for the elections to the urban local bodies.

Welcoming the announcement of the State Government to drop the move to tax books and aluminum utensils, Mr. Sedam, however, expressed unhappiness with the proposal to make beer available through provision stores.

Mr. Sedam referred to the excise arrears and said in one case, out of the Rs. 30 crores due, the Government had collected Rs. 2 crores in cash and post-dated cheques from an excise contractor though there was no provision for it under the excise law. Mr. Sedam wanted the Chief Minister come out with the name of the contractor and whether what had been done was permissible under the excise law. Otherwise the BJP would announce the details at the appropriate time.

Asked what was the "correct picture" the NDA wanted to project at its public meetings on the tehelka revelations, Mr. Sedam pointed out that the news portal, tehelka.com had gone back on its various initial claims about the involvement of certain other leaders. The tape also did not disclose any actual deal.

Mr. Visveswara Hegde and Mr. Aravind Limbavali, general secretaries of the State unit, were present at the press conference.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Shortage of judges causing delays: CJI
Next     : Govt. to seek report on light rail system