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Path cleared for JD's entry into NDA

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

With J H Patel agreeing to forgo his candidature for the Karnataka chief minister's post after the general election, the dissenters in the Bharatiya Janata Party are likely to end their opposition to the entry of the Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal into the National Democratic Alliance.

Top BJP sources told rediff.com that the Dal's inclusion in the NDA now appears to be a formality following discussions between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani over the last two days.

They said BJP president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre had also been taken into confidence.

Patel's earlier resolve to project himself as the NDA's chief ministerial candidate had put off a section of the BJP, leading to opposition to the Dal joining the alliance.

But now that Patel has fallen in line, the NDA's July 31 meeting to decide on the party's admittance is likely to proceed without any hiccups.

The sources did not agree with the contention that the Janata Dal question had resulted in yet another face-off between Vajpayee and the home minister. "The media need not get excited about the issue because it will be amicably settled on July 31," remarked a politician from the Vajpayee camp.

He, however, was unable to explain why senior BJP politicians like Jai Prakash Mathur and Jana Krishnamurthy, both vice-presidents of the party, had spoken agitatedly against the Dal's inclusion in the NDA, except to say their reaction was "nothing unusual" in a democratic party.

Explaining how the new deal suits both parties, a BJP general secretary said the Janata Dal would get a fresh lease of life with the NDA's backing while the BJP would have one less party calling it communal.

He said an unwritten agreement had been reached between the parties that until the elections get over, neither should snipe at the other.

But some BJP politicians still do not appear to be very confident about the pact working out. One politician referred to Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav's statement on the day the Samata Party and Lok Shakti merged into his party. He had declared that the Dal's basic philosophy and principles would be adhered to.

This, the BJP politician felt, was a clear indication that the Janata Dal would not abandon its secular plank.

But Yadav today sought to dispel doubts about the contradictory ideologies of the NDA constituents hindering the alliance's electoral strategy. "We have just joined hands, please don't write us off before we make a beginning," he told a group of reporters outside his party's Maulana Azad Road office in New Delhi.

He indicated that outstanding issues between his faction and the NDA would be resolved soon, paving the way for a government led by Vajpayee after the poll.

Both George Fernandes and Ramakrishna Hegde, now in the reunited Janata Dal, were not available for comments.

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