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Advani denies nursing prime ministerial ambition

Home Minister L K Advani says ''he will never, never like to become the prime minister of the country.''

In an interview to a television network, Advani said he was elated that the media and the critics have been comparing him with the country's first home minister, Sardar Patel.

''I am only a humble political worker and am only discharging my duties,'' he added.

Advani said there was no question of his being the alternate centre of power to the prime minister.

''It is far removed from the truth.. The finance ministry is more powerful nowadays," he quipped.

''For the last several years we have been fighting against the Congress misrule under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee,'' he said.

He said the government has decided to follow a two-pronged strategy to combat militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. One, by strengthening the border to prevent infiltration, and two, if militants do manage to squeeze through, then to flushing them out before they strike.

He said the Doda killings were indicative of an increase in militancy, but the government expected such in increase, with the snow melting at this time of the year.

Asked if he was in favour of hot pursuit, he said, ''If the question suggests chasing militants across the border, one has to exercise restraint in the present situation.'' He said his pro-active policy does not favour hot -pursuit of militants.

Advani termed as 'absurd' the Opposition arguments that the governors should not send their monthly reports on situation in their states as law and order was a state subject.

The Centre, Advani said, was duty-bound under Article 355 of the Constitution to 'keep informed' about the states. ''It is the duty of the central government to protect the states against internal disturbance,'' he said.

Referring to West Bengal, he said some political parties, including the Congress, had complained about violence during the local body elections. The memoranda contained the names and addresses of persons killed. The list included a woman, who was a victim of molestation and rape. Since the state government had broadly denied these allegations, it was 'imperative' to send the team.

He said sending the team for assessing the situation was his own initiative and not because of pressures from Trinamul Congress leader Mamta Banerjee. ''You may be surprised to find out, but Mamta never demanded a fact-finding team and she perhaps came to know of it only from the newspapers,'' he told another television network.

Advani also ruled out dismissal of any state government by abusing Article 356 for survival of the BJP-led coalition.

Answering questions about pressures on his government from AIADMK chief Jayalalitha for dismissal of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, Advani said, ''I think the answer to this is no .... There is no question of abusing any constitutional provision. This is not confined to Tamil Nadu. There are other states in the country where there is strong demand for invoking Article 356."

Advani, who headed the BJP during the general election campaign, denied that there was a pre-poll understanding with the AIADMK to dismiss the Karunanidhi government as claimed by Jayalalitha.

''I don't recall any occasion, even in private conversations. This might have been her feeling or that of some people in Tamil Nadu. But so far as the government is concerned the government has been clear on this issue before and after the election,'' he stated.

To a question regarding Jayalalitha's allegation of a BJP-DMK nexus in Tamil Nadu, Advani said the BJP had called a meeting of its allies on June 27 to discuss the issues, and there was no warning from her side to withdraw support.

''We have no danger from our friends but have threats from our enemies who had killed innocent people at Doda,'' he remarked.

To a question on frequent walkouts in Parliament and threats to withdraw support by the AIADMK if the Centre did not dismiss the Tamil Nadu government, the home minister said, ''We will be meeting shortly. I believe we will talk it out.''

On the performance of the 100-day-old BJP government, the home minister said there was not 'anything much' for him to be satisfied. There were many areas where a lot needed to be done to transform swaraj(self-rule) to suraj(good governance), he said.

Advani, in the interview, said he would not blame "inexperience" of the ministers in the coalition for any failures. "It may take some time" for the political leadership to understand the problems and to get used to bureaucracy and to the ways of administration, he remarked.

He also disapproved of the 'confusion' between the finance and petroleum ministries over the excise hike on petrol, by saying, ''This kind of discrepancy, ought not to have taken place.''

He, however, defended the roll-back of urea prices from the Budget proposals, adding that there was no pressure or nothing 'unusual' in it. The only pressure was that it should be 'pro-farmer and pro rural'. If this impact was diluted by the cess on urea, ''Why not change it?'' he asked.

About the government being forced to refrain from tabling the power bill, Advani said it was not due to the pressure from the AIADMK but to correct the 'wrong message' that would have been sent by going ahead with a bill that tended to take away the concessions given to the farmers.

About the statement of senior BJP vice-president K L Sharma that the government would pass a legislation to overturn any adverse court verdict on the Mandir-Masjid tangle, the home minister stated that "it was not a correct position".

Advani said he had advised Sharma to be more 'discreet' in future.

The BJP was a party to national agenda which was adopted by the government. ''People would go by what the prime minister and home minister had stated on the issue,'' he added.

He also declined to comment on Vishwa Hindu Parishad president Ashok Singhal's statement that the religious leaders might choose to 'punish' the judiciary if its verdict on Ayodhya issue was unduly delayed. ''I don't think he would say anything of this sort,'' he said.

On the temple issue, the home minister said, ''We are bound to obey court orders''. He said the work in progress for the construction of temple was situated far from the disputed site.

UNI

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