The Hindu : Strong wave for change in Chhattisgarh, says Advani

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 21, 2003

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Strong wave for change in Chhattisgarh, says Advani

By Lalit Shastri

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, with the party president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, and the general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, at the party's executive meet in Raipur on Sunday. — Photo: A.M. Faruqui

RAIPUR JULY 20. The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, said here today that the Bharatiya Janata Party would seek votes in the coming Assembly elections in five States on the basis of the Centre's "positive performance.'' There was a strong wave favouring a change in Chhattisgarh, which would soon turn into a "storm and blow the Congress out of power in the State.''

Mr. Advani, who was addressing a party workers' "sankalp sammelan,'' said he had seen many party workers' conventions but the turnout here had given a clear message that there was a wave for change in the State. The party workers should not develop any complacency. They must reach out to people and tell them about the achievements of the Vajpayee Government. They should convince the voters that "our conduct will not be the same as those in the Congress if we come to power in Chhattisgarh.'' He alleged that it was due to the Congress "misrule" for the last 55 years that crores of people still faced hunger, poverty and illiteracy.

From "swaraj to suraj'' (independence to good governance), that is our aim and election promise, Mr. Advani told the party workers. The BJP wanted to turn the 21st Century into India's century and wanted it to become a developed nation by 2020. He advised the workers to refrain from resorting to slanderous campaign against the Congress. Instead, they should ask the people to do a self-appraisal and decide why the Congress, led by leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Ravi Shankar Shukla had reached such a level.

The party president, Venkaiah Naidu, reiterated that the wind of change was blowing in the State. People wanted to bring the BJP to power since Mr. Vajpayee was the main leader responsible for the creation of Chhattisgarh.

He said the original Congress had ceased to exist many years ago. During the last several years, he said, all parties had got divided but the BJP remained intact as a result of its ideology, leadership and commitment.

Mr. Naidu said India's prestige was rising abroad. "It is due to Mr. Vajpayee's leadership that we could face economic sanctions after India chose to go nuclear. Today the country has foreign exchange reserves touching $ 83 billions. Even inflation is at its lowest. There had been tremendous progress on the telecom front. The country is being linked with a world-class road network and many policy decisions had been taken for the benefit of farmers."

On the Ayodhya issue, Mr. Naidu said the Congress would have to define the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi's stand at a time when the matter was in court.

Raipur, Mr. Naidu said, should convey the message that the BJP would once more get people's mandate for a second term at the Centre.

The BJP general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, said: "Chhattisgarh would not witness an election (later this year) but a dharma-yuddh.'' The battle would not be an easy one, as all kinds of terror tactics would be used against the BJP workers.

Two Union Ministers, Ramesh Bais and Dilip Singh Judeo, the State BJP president, Raman Singh, and the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Nand Kumar Sai, addressed the party workers.

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