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Rajnath to contest from Vidisha
READY FOR BATTLE: BJP president Rajnath Singh with party candidate Rampal Singh at Raisen town in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
Vidisha/Raisen (MP): Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh on Saturday announced his desire to contest the next Lok Sabha elections from Vidisha, saying the constituency, where a by-election is slated for October 30, is "auspicious."
The constituency was "auspicious" as several of those getting elected from here went on to hold important posts, he said at the party's poll meetings at Vidisha and Raisen.
"Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma went on to become the President and Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister," he said, adding, "I will contest the next Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha.''
He accused the Centre of failing to tackle terrorism and ensure the country's internal security.
Mr. Singh said the United Progressive Alliance repealed POTA, which was needed to combat terrorism, adding ``those describing POTA as anti-Muslim should understand that it was not so, but it was anti-criminal."
Hitting out at Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for failing to join the recitation of Vande Matram during its centenary celebrations recently, Mr. Singh sought amendment of the Constitution to make its singing mandatory.
Religion-based quota
Voicing the BJP's resolve to disallow reservation on the basis of religion, he said his party was in favour of job quotas for backward and weaker sections irrespective of their religion.
He described the rural employment guarantee scheme as an "eyewash" and alleged that the "failure of the Centre to control inflation has caused expenses to grow by three times, in the last two-and-half years." — PTI
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