Political Bureau
The Economic Times
May 26, 1999
Title: Forget Sonia, let's talk elections, say BJP leaders Author: Political Bureau Publication: The Economic Times Date: May 26, 1999 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who sought to rain in its point that the goings on in the Congress was just a tamasha, today asked the party to get down to doing some serious politics. "Now that the Sonia brigade has climbed down from treetops, dynasty fans have stopped clean shaving their heads and Congresswomen have stopped burning the pallus of their saris, we can discuss the election agenda seriously," party leader Arun Jaitley said. Mr Jaitley, who was responding to the Congress president's speech where she sought the total allegiance of the faithful on the ground of her lineage, said the latest discourse in the Congress has helped in centring the coming Polls Over the question of leadership. "Her claim to leadership is not based on experience or her knowledge about the functioning of the democracy. She has based it on family and lineage. In short, the dynasty. She has amply contributed to making it an issue," the BJP leader said. Mr Jaitley appeared to draw satisfaction from today's development as the party has been planning to posit the leadership of Mr Vajpayee against Ms Gandhi's. Ms Gandhi, who virtually showed their places to the Congress leaders has said that all future dealings with them will be on the terms set by her. She has also said that those Congressmen who are not willing to accept her hegemony was free to leave the party. The BJP leader said that it was time that the Congress left behind its preoccupation with its "first family" and discussed the issues confronting the nation. "We are for a full-scale debate on issues. Let the Congress join this debate," he said. On Ms Gandhi's statement that the prime ministerial nominee will be decided by the Congress Party in Parliament, Mr Jaitley said the past events showed that the Congress president was more than anxious to run for the post. "If the past events are any indicators, she would certainly be the Congress' nominee. At one stage, she said she was not interested in politics. Some 14 months back, she campaigned for the party because "she wanted to help it", and a month ago, she went to the President with a list of 233 and said that she was a prime ministerial aspirant," he said. The BJP's gearing to carry out a full-scale offensive against the Congress president, who was challenged from within over her Italian origin, has already been made clear by the party's top brass. The manifesto committee, which is meeting here next month, will ago deliberate whether it should include the demand for an amendment in the Constitution for making the office of the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister exclusively for Indians.
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