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Force may be used if needed: PM

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI NOV. 16. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, while expressing the hope that the `Godhra crisis' would get peacefully resolved, did indicate today that the State administration would use force, if necessary, to stop the VHP from defying the ban on the `yatras' in Gujarat. ``Everybody will carry out his duty,'' he remarked when asked what could happen if the VHP insisted on carrying out its proposed yatra from Godhra tomorrow.

Mr. Vajpayee was interacting with the media over lunch at his residence this afternoon. He expressed the hope that the BJP would win the next month's elections in Gujarat and said that he would campaign for the party, ``if he was asked to do so.''

He suggested that a BJP victory would be a ``victory for all, including Narendra Modi and others''. And, he again repeated, that maintenance of peace and communal harmony — rather than `Godhra' — should be issues during the campaign.

Mr. Vajpayee tried to downplay the BJP's slightly different stand on the Election Commission's ban on the `yatra'.

When it was pointed out to him that his own party was not in full agreement with his views (which are supportive of the Commission), Mr. Vajpayee enigmatically remarked that he too was not in disagreement with his party, implying that as Prime Minister he probably had to be seen as supportive of a Constitutional authority. However, he ruled out advancing the Lok Sabha elections in case the BJP should do well in Gujarat. ``Why are you against my completing the five-year term,'' he jokingly shot back at the questioner.

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