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BJP foresees elections in 2008

	November 05, 2007

Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani has alleged that the Congress failure to run a coalition has emerged as the major reason for instability at the Centre. He said this is the real reason which may result in fresh Lok Sabha elections being held in 2008. Reaffirming the BJP position on the Indo-US nuclear deal, Advani said the party is opposed to the undertaking given by the Manmo¬han Singh Government to the US that if it supplied nuclear fuel to India, there would be no Pokharan-III.



Describing Dr. Manmohan Singh as the “weakest” Prime Min¬ister India had seen, Advani said the government would not last till 2009 and there was a possibility of polls being held in the first quarter of 2008. Advani said terrorism, the agrarian crisis, price rise and Ram Setu would be among the major issues to be raised by the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.



The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has said that the Hindus will not allow the destruction of the Ram Setu and are ready to sacrifice their lives for its preservation. VHP working president Ashok Singhal said in Varanasi on Oct. 28 that the VHP has chalked out an all India programme to protest against the Centre’s move on Ram Setu.



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BJP indulging in doublespeak on Ram Setu : Govindacharya



A former BJP general secretary K.N. Govindacharya has said that the BJP is indulging in doublespeak on the Ram Setu issue.



He said that if the saffron party wants to prove it is a party with a difference then it must “expel” all its top leaders, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani on the Ram Setu issue as the decision to destroy the mythological bridge was taken by the National Democratic Alliance government.



Govindacharya, who is the founder of ‘Bharat Vikas Samaj,’ said that the decision to destroy the historic bridge and con¬struct a canal was actually taken by the BJP-led NDA government and the present UPA government was just trying to execute the same.



Govindacharya said the BJP was engaged in doublespeak by projecting itself as a saviour of the bridge, while the “actual sin was performed by it only.”



The then BJP Minister Vijay Goel had mooted the idea to destroy the Setu and then the Shipping Ministry under BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha had finally approved the project and sent the same to the Cabinet for approval, Govindacharya said. “So how can they disown the responsibility now ?”



He said the proposal to construct a canal destroying the Ram Setu would have been passed by the Vajpayee government at the end of 2003 itself had the announcement for the general election not come in the way.



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Jaswant Singh in opium controversy



Senior BJP leader and former Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has landed in a controversy with allegations of a brew served by him to welcome dissident leaders at his village Jasol in Barmer district containing opium. A Jodhpur special court dealing with drug related offences agreed to hear a petition against Jaswant Singh on Nov. 3 which wants the directions to be issued to the police under the Narcotics, Drugs and Pschyotropic Substances Act which prescribes a minimum 10-year jail term for offenders.



A stickler for Marwar traditions, the former Union Minister and the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha allegedly served his guests opium-laced coloured milk - kesar - from his cupped palm as they trooped in for lunch at his ancestral house on October 31.



After the function, local newspapers carried photographs of BJP leaders drinking the brew offered by Jaswant Singh and set off the controversy.



A resident of Jodhpur, Om Prakash Bishnoi, lodged a com¬plaint against Jaswant Singh and nine others in the special court dealing with narcotics-related offences in Jodhpur under the NDPS Act.



The at-home had already attracted considerable media atten¬tion as a dissidents’ conclave opposed to Chief Minister Vasund¬hara Raje. Reports of the opium-laced drink gave the event an even more potent political dimension. It could just push Jaswant Singh onto the defensive while giving Raje an opportunity to revel in the leader’s discomfiture.