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Left's political immorality exposed, says BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party today took serious objection to the Leftists's open declaration that they were willing to go to any extent to ''dislodge'' the BJP-led coalition government at the Centre and replace it with a Congress regime.

BJP General Secretary M Venkaiah Naidu expressed shock over the display of what he called ''political immorality and eagerness to subvert the 1998 mandate by the CPI-M and CPI.''

''No less shocking and repugnant'' was the CPI-M's decision, conveyed to the Congress by West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, that the Marxists would support Sonia Gandhi if she took over the reins of government.

''It is the same Jyoti Basu who built up his political career on the anti-Nehru/Gandhi family slogans and is today happy to pay obeisance at Sonia Gandhi's doorstep. CPI-M general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet has for long been pining to collaborate with the Congress,'' the statement said.

Quoting extensively from the 1998 election manifestos of both the Left parties and the Congress, Naidu said after calling each other names, the Congress today did not appear to have any compunction about collaborating with parties that have failed to ''integrate themselves into the national mainstream.'' Yesterday's ''blind anti-Congressism'' appears to have been washed away by today's equally blind pro-Congressism,'' the BJP leader observed.

In Calcutta, BJP president Kushabhau Thakre said Samajwadi Janata Party leader Chandra Shekhar's wishes would not be fulfilled.

Describing the Union government's performance as ''good,'' the BJP president told newspersons in Calcutta that there was no truth in the reports of differences between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Union Home Minister L K Advani.

He said those people who were talking about the so-called differences were actually ''day-dreaming.''

Thakre said there would always be differences in any coalition government, but the issues could be sorted out in line with the national agenda.

Denying that the BJP had a separate agenda for the Ram Mandir, he emphatically said, ''We are not constructing the Ram Mandir.''

Thakre said the BJP was committed to the national agenda of the government and would abide by the Supreme Court's order on the Ram Mandir issue. He said the Opposition was harping on the issue as it apparently had no other issue to raise.

Asked if the Vajpayee government would last in view of Chandra Shekhar's open suggestion to opposition parties to dislodge the Union government, he said, ''At least Chandra Shekhar is not in a position to do that,'' and added, ''There is no danger to the government.'' He maintained that the BJP government was not indecisive like the previous United Front government.

Asked what areas where the Vajpayee government had done well, Thakre said the country's problems could not be solved in two days, and hastened to add that the government was going in the right direction.

UNI

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