ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

BJP may repeat Delhi experiment in Rajasthan, MP

Deviating from its declared policy of not projecting any individual as the chief ministerial candidate for the coming assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to project Sushma Swaraj for the post in Delhi.

A decision in this regard for Rajasthan, which is also going to polls along with Delhi and Madhya Pradesh later this month, will be announced soon, party general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu said today.

The national executive of the party which met in Jaipur in August, had decided against projecting anyone as the candidate for the top post in the three states.

Justifying the change in the policy, Naidu, at the daily briefing, said it was ''in conformity with our view that people should be given an opportunity to know who will be their chief minister before the polls''.

Swaraj was sworn in as chief minister of Delhi earlier in the day. Her predecessor, Sahib Singh Verma, will be inducted into the Union council of ministers ''at the earliest'', Naidu said.

In reply to a question, he said the party will appeal to the people of Delhi to vote for the BJP for better development of the national capital. All these years, the central government was treating Delhi in a step-motherly fashion, he alleged.

Naidu denied the accusations by various political parties that the BJP had violated the model code of conduct by changing the chief minister on the eve of the elections.

''In a democracy, political parties have the right to elect or change their leadership. The Election Commission has not yet notified the poll schedule,'' he said.

Naidu said Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and party president Kushabhau Thakre had discussed the induction of Verma into the Union cabinet.

The BJP justified its decision to change the Delhi chief minister saying it was being widely appreciated by the people of the capital.

In reply to a question, Naidu said Verma resigned ''on his own and he was not asked to resign''.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report