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Vajpayee to contest from Lucknow again

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will seek re-election to the Lok Sabha from Lucknow while Home Minister L K Advani contests from Gandhinagar.

Their names are expected to figure in the Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of candidates, to be released tomorrow.

The party's Central Election Committee began its deliberations in New Delhi Monday morning to review the political situation and scrutinise the lists of candidates forwarded by state units.

BJP president Kushabhau Thakre chaired the two-day meeting.

Those attending include Vajpayee, Advani, Human Resource Development Minister Murali Manohar Joshi, Industry Minister Sikandar Bakht, vice president K L Sharma and all five general secretaries. The lone absentee of the 16-member committee was Vijayraje Scindia, who is unwell.

Briefing newsmen, party spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu denied any infighting in the state units that compelled sitting MPs to withdraw from contest. He, however, said that it would be known if anyone is unwilling to contest only after discussions were held in the states.

Naidu refused to comment on Karnataka Chief Minister J H Patel's statement that he was neither a member of the NDA or the BJP.

''Let it be decided first whether he (Patel) is a Janata Dal man or not. He is fighting for his right (for symbol),'' he said.

The spokesman did not see anything wrong in the Samata, the Lok Shakti and Patel holding a joint public meeting in Bangalore later this week. ''What is wrong in it? The BJP too held similar meetings on its own and with some of its allies. Any political party has a right to hold public meetings,'' he said.

Naidu said he was confident of resolving the JD issue and that of Vaiko in Tamil Nadu satisfactorily.

Refuting the Congress charges that the Sangh Parivar was behind the riots in Ahmedabad, he said: ''It is nothing new. They have been levelling similar charges for the past 49 years. It is well known that it was the Congress party that is aligning with communal forces. It had been abetting and aiding communal forces all through,'' he alleged.

UNI

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