Date:20/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/20/stories/2008052054231000.htm

National

BJP objects to undue publicity to Sonia

Special Correspondent

She holds no official government position: spokesperson

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party objects to “undue publicity” to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in government advertisements in newspapers.

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said here on Monday that the United Progressive Alliance government would complete four years in office on May 22, “after which the election year will start.” The BJP was worried about “misuse” of government funds for publicity to the Congress president.

He said she held no official government position and, therefore, her photographs in advertisements paid for by government departments or public sector undertakings amounted to “misuse of government funds.” As UPA chairperson, she was holding only a political position, not an official post.

EC intervention

Asked what the BJP would do if such advertisements continued, Mr. Prasad initially said the party would take up the matter with the Election Commission.

When it was pointed out that the EC could not come into the picture until the model code of conduct was enforced after the announcement of poll dates, he said the party would consider other options. He was non-committal to a question whether it favoured a remedy through court.

Mr. Prasad demanded that the Prime Minister’s Office instruct every government department not to use Ms. Gandhi’s photographs in its advertisements.

The BJP also expressed concern at the government’s “weak response” to an “aggressive Chinese posturing in Arunachal Pradesh and more recently in Sikkim.” Mr. Prasad said it should lodge a formal protest through China’s Ambassador here.

Asked why the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee put the Arunachal Pradesh border on the negotiating table with China, Mr. Prasad said he got the Chinese to endorse Sikkim as an integral part of India.

Illegal migrants

On identifying illegal Bangladeshi migrants, Mr. Prasad noted that the power of deportation was with the Centre. He was not able to give figures for how many illegal Bangladeshis or other foreign nationals the BJP-led government from 1998 to 2004 identified and deported.