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'Bharatiya bano, Bharatiya chuno' to be BJP's slogan

''Bharatiya bano, Bharatiya chuno'' will be the Bharatiya Janata Party's slogan for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections to counter Congress president Sonia Gandhi's bid to capture power.

Disclosing this to the media in Bombay last night, Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan said Sonia's foreign origins cannot be a non-issue during the elections.

''But the BJP will leave it to the people to decide,'' he added. ''We will tell the voter, 'One vote of the Opposition had pulled down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Give us your one vote, and restore the BJP to power.''' He is in charge of the party's as well as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's election campaign.

Strongly criticising Sonia for her role in pulling down the BJP-led coalition government, Mahajan said she had nothing to offer to the voters during this election.

''She is not an untested missile. In 1998, she tried her level best but the Congress ended up with only 140 seats. I don't know what new things she will add now,'' he said.

UNI

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