Date:26/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/26/stories/2007032617571600.htm

National

BJP kicks off campaign in Uttar Pradesh

Vows to build Ram temple, accuses Centre of appeasement

AGRA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday kicked off its election campaign in Uttar Pradesh with its top leaders pledging to construct the Ram temple at Ayodhya and attacking the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government for indulging in politics of appeasement and failure to curb price rise.

Party leaders L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh, along with a host of leaders, launched the campaign by addressing rallies at Agra, Jhansi and Kanpur.

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said in Lucknow that Kalyan Singh would be the party's chief ministerial candidate for the crucial seven-phased assembly polls beginning April 7.

Crediting the saffron party's rise to power at the Centre to the Ayodhya campaign, Mr. Advani told a large public meeting that ``Ram temple objective is yet to be completed.''

The former Deputy Prime Minister, who referred to Rahul Gandhi's remarks on the Ayodhya issue without naming him, cited a cartoon in a magazine of the young Congress MP, saying ``The cartoon carried a remark that had that very family been active in the 12th century, Babri [mosque] would not have ever been erected.''

Not linked to politics

In Kanpur, Mr. Kalyan Singh said the BJP was committed to constructing a Ram temple at Ayodhya. ``This is not an issue linked to politics. It involves the faith of crores of people across the country,'' he said.

In Jhansi, Mr. Rajnath Singh, accompanied by ally Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav, attacked the UPA Government for failing to curb rising prices and indulging in appeasement politics of minorities.

The BJP chief termed both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party as ``caste-based opportunist'' parties that were not bothered about the Uttar Pradesh's development. — PTI