Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2003 |
| Front Page | ||||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Front Page
By Lalit Shastri
The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the BJP leader, Uma Bharti, waving to the crowd at a party rally at Mandla on Tuesday.
"Musharraf has reminded us of Kargil but he should remember Pakistan was defeated thrice in wars and was now preparing for a fourth defeat," Mr. Vajpayee said at a BJP rally in this predominantly-tribal district headquarters, near Jabalpur. Defending his peace initiative, Mr. Vajpayee said that he had once again extended the hand of friendship to Pakistan. He would continue to do so till "good sense prevailed on our neighbour". Pakistan was given a befitting reply during the Kargil war when each and every infiltrator was pushed out. "We talk of peace with Pakistan on the basis of our strength," the Prime Minister said adding that both countries needed to bring down their expenditure on arms and devote their resources for development. The rally got an unprecedented response despite a hailstorm and thundershowers that lashed the region in the afternoon. An hour before the rally was to begin at 4 p.m. there was chaos on the highways linking this town; the strong winds had uprooted many trees and the electricity wires had snapped. Uma Bharti would be the BJP's chief ministerial candidate in the coming Assembly election in Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Vajpayee announced amid thunderous applause. He also compared Ms. Bharti to the legendary medieval ruler of the territory, Rani Durgawati. Politics was not a "power game", he said emphasising that the BJP-led Government at the Centre treated all States on a par and did not discriminate one State from another irrespective of the party in power. He did not directly refer to the chargesheet issued against his Government by the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president last week but said his Government treated all States equally. He cited the example of Rajasthan saying the Congress-ruled State had been facing the worst drought and that the Centre had immediately sanctioned relief without discrimination. The country was going through change and there was no need for pessimism or frustration. "We try to go hand in hand with the State Governments and also try to point out their mistakes," Mr. Vajpayee said. Taking a dig at the Madhya Pradesh Government, the Prime Minister said it had been "misrepresenting facts" on the issue of forest villages. "We want to convert the forest villages into revenue villages and the Centre has even issued no-objection certificates in this regard. However, the State Government, which is supposed to regularise the forest villages, has failed to issue the notification as has already been done by Kerala." Nothing could be achieved by writing "love letters". The examination results in the State had been very poor, he said. Also, the students had a genuine complaint that they could not study due to continuous power cut. There was a need to maintain the basic ethics in Centre-State relations. The States should use Central funds properly but it appeared that this was not happening. "Some leaders" went abroad and spoiled the country's image on the issue of Dalits, he said.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
