> Title : BJP sharpens demand for fresh polls > Author : K V Lakshmana > Publication : The Observer > Date : April 21, 1997 > > With the chances of installation of an alternative United Front Government > increasing following the consensus on Mr I K Gujral, the Bharatiya Janata > Party began sharpening its demands for fresh elections. > > A BJP delegation headed by leader of the Opposition and former Prime
Minister > Atal Behari Vajpayee and party president L K Advani met President Shanker > Dayal Sharma on Sunday night and reiterated its demand for fresh elections
as > the UF coalition, supported by the Congress and the Communist Party of > India-Marxist was defeated on the floor of the House. > > In a crowded press conference on Saturday, Mr Vajpayee demanded dissolution > of the 11th Lok Sabha and mid-term elections to give the people a chance to > give a political party a clear-cut mandate to rule the country. > > Since even a Government headed by Mr Gujral had in-built instability, > indications of which were signalled by the pullout by the Tamil Maanila > Congress, "mid-term elections are the only solution" to the political
crisis > triggered off by the Congress, he said. > > Taking the cue from Mr Vajpayee, a host of second-rung BJP leaders on
Sunday > urged the President to desist from inviting "the squabbling UF" to form the > Government. Instead, they asked the President to order fresh elections.
BJP > general secretary Sushma Swaraj made this demand from Chandigarh, where she > has gone to monitor the party's preparations for mid-term polls. > > Asserting that support to the Government from outside did not ensure > stability, Mr Vajpayee said that it was instead an "iron-clad guarantee of > prolonged and expensive instability." Secondly, a minority Government
easily > lost the confidence of the majority of the people in the country, he added. > > Mr Vajpayee described as "immoral and unconstitutional " UF's efforts to > install another ministry with the Congress again offering "support from > outside." He said that the fact that there would be a new man in the Prime > Minister's chair was irrelevant. "The vote of confidence was not about an > individual called H D Deve Gowda. It was about the acts of commission and > commission of the UF as a whole," he said. > > "Gifting the UF another chance to misgovern is unprecedented, unethical and > unacceptable" in the face of every convention of parliamentary democracy,"
he > said. > > The President "risks mortgaging the future if he ignores these lessons of
the > past," Mr Vajpayee said, recounting the past failures of the past
experiments > of governments with outside support. > > "Today, development work has come to stand still and an early decision on
the > issue will be in the national interest," Mr Vajpayee, flanked by Mr Advani > and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, said. He denied that > BJP was demanding dissolution only because it had failed to garner support
of > the regional parties for forming the Government and said, "this impression
is > baseless and we have been demanding dissolution from day one. " > > "I did not stake claim to form the Government when I met the President on > Thursday, nor he invited me for the same," Mr Vajpayee said, adding that > "though elections were a costly affair, but political stability was more > important. " > > Mr Vajpayee and other BJP leaders, however, said that their party was > prepared to cooperate for possible "financial arrangements" under the > caretaker Government, but there was no question of support to any new > Government to adopt the Finance Bill. He said that on the proposed National > Democratic Front, consultations with the party's allies were on. > > Cautioning the President against installation of another shaky coalition,
Ms > Swaraj said in Chandigarh that "the experiment, which failed a week ago is > being repeated and imposed upon the country. The new arrangement would be > more unstable and would not last long," she said. > > Urging the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha and hold mid-term elections, > she said that her party had made it clear to the President that "imposition > of unstable Government was not in the interest of the nation." > > The BJP spokesperson said that while the BJP and its allies formed a
cohesive > group with Mr Vajpayee as its "undisputed" leader, the UF was "a divided > house with five ambitious leaders as prime ministers." > > Another important BJP leader O Rajgopal said that the BJP and its allies > would meet on Monday to finalise future course of action in the wake of Mr > Gujral's election as new leader of UF parliamentary party. > > Mr Vajpayee and other BJP leaders, who termed the defeat of the vote of > confidence as "collective failure of the United Front," insisted that it
was > immoral and unconstitutional to reinstate a group that had just lost the > confidence of the House. > > He said that there was an imbalance built into any government that stood
upon > support from the outside. "A party may offer a helping hand to another, it > can not offer a helping leg," Mr Vajpayee said. > > Commenting on the Congress' position in the ongoing political turmoil, Mr > Vajpayee said he had told the President that "a proposed Government based
on > the politics of make and break and without any principles, will be even
more > weak. How would this fulfill the responsibility of providing a stable > Government." > > Decrying the maneouvering by the UF and the Congress to retain power, the
BJP > leader regretted that even Parliament and the President were being used as > "pawns." > > He said that political leaders and parties should have the moral courage to > go to the court of people. "Elections are costly, but the price to be paid > for instability and indecision is even greater," Mr Vajpayee added to
justify > his party's demand for fresh elections. > > > >
