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It will be difficult without Vajpayee, says Thackeray

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI JUNE 6. The Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, feels "it would be difficult" without Atal Behari Vajpayee at the helm though in the past, he had been critical of Mr. Vajpayee's Pakistan policy and his attempts at "appeasing" Muslim voters.

But, insofar as the Sena was concerned, Mr. Vajpayee was a leader without dispute within the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre. Now, he did not mind calling the Prime Minister a "mild leader", but, at the same time, found that he was the only leader in the NDA who was a crowd-puller and a vote getter.

Mr. Thackeray described Mr. Vajpayee's remark that the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, would lead the BJP in the next general election a "good googly". The Prime Minister "played his cards well", he said. As to who should lead the BJP was that "party's internal matter".

But how did this jell with his criticism of the soft-manner of handling issues by Mr. Vajpayee? Mr. Thackeray did not think that he or his party had to always go along with the NDA stand. "We have not mortgaged the Sena's ability to think on its own," he said. If the party had strong views it had to be expressed and he saw no contradiction between his stand and his appreciation of Mr. Vajpayee's leadership now.

For instance, the issue of conditional access system, which would cost the middle class a lot of money and "the Government may have to pay a price for it". The BJP did not consult any ally before taking the decision, Mr. Thackeray said.

In a side sweep at Mr. Advani, the Sena leader said he did not find him taking a harder line on Hindutva than his party, now or in the past. Sena is the unparalleled votary of Hindutva. But he was unsure when the Ram temple would be built at Ayodhya and was averse to the idea of a mosque near the temple as suggested by the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu. Mr. Thackeray was talking to presspersons at his home today, answering questions about the leadership controversy in the BJP. He said he did not want to comment on the issue, much less criticise the ally with which his party has had an enduring relationship.

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