The Hindu : JD(U), BJP resume talks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

National

National

JD(U), BJP resume talks

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, MARCH 21. There is a glimmer of hope again for an electoral alliance between the Janata Dal (U) and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka, with negotiations between the two parties resuming in New Delhi on Saturday.

After last Sunday's sabre-rattling at the BJP's indecision, the Janata Dal (U) president and Defence Minister, George Fernandes, who had been demanding 10 Lok Sabha seats and 95 Assembly seats in Karnataka, had declared that the JD(U) would fight alone and give the BJP a run for its money in the State by fielding candidates on its own.

Mr. Fernandes, who arrived here en route to Salem in Tamil Nadu to address a rally of the Dalit Panthers, told presspersons that the JD(U) and the BJP were working for seat adjustments and an alliance in all the States. A satisfactory solution would be found within the next two to four days to the situation that had come about in Karnataka, where the State unit of the BJP was reluctant to accommodate JD(U) candidates.

The alliance with the BJP in other States was working out well, and the problem would not affect the National Democratic Alliance adversely, Mr. Fernandes said, seeking to reassure the other partners.

The State JD(U) leaders, including its president, B. Somashekhar, S.R. Bommai and Basavaraj Bommai, are in New Delhi, for talks with the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, who is in charge of the BJP in Karnataka.

As for Saturday's decision of the Election Commission to nullify the merger of the Samata Party with the JD(U) on the grounds that it was not "valid" and "total," Mr. Fernandes said: "It does not mean anything."

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