The Hindu : Lok Sabha contest will be fierce, PM tells party MPs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 29, 2004

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National

Lok Sabha contest will be fierce, PM tells party MPs

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, today warned his party's MPs that the Lok Sabha battle ahead would be fierce, though victory for the National Democratic Alliance was certain.

``Jam kar ladai hogi (the battle will be fierce),'' Mr. Vajpayee reportedly said while addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party's parliamentary party meeting here this evening. The Opposition parties were in disarray and victory was certain for the BJP and the NDA. ``But there will be a fierce and grim contest.''

Normally, the BJP holds its parliamentary party meeting every Tuesday morning before the start of the day's proceedings in Parliament. But with the second half of the winter session starting tomorrow, a Thursday, it was decided to hold the meeting this evening when a large number of party leaders were present to attend the two-day media workshop that started today.

Briefing reporters after the parliamentary party meeting, the spokesperson, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, said that Mr. Vajpayee asked all MPs to get ready for the election.

Earlier in the day at Dehradun, Mr. Vajpayee reportedly scoffed at the manner in which the Congress was trying to put together an anti-NDA coalition.

Mr. Vajpayee pointed out that the Lok Sabha elections had been advanced by a few months precisely because the ``atmosphere was conducive'' for the NDA.

Some MPs feared that the State machinery would be misused against the BJP and the NDA in States ruled by hostile parties. Mr. Vajpayee pointed out that their fears were misplaced - after all the BJP had recently won three State assembly elections where the Congress was the ruling party. When people make up their minds and they know whom they want to give their vote to, such things cannot work, the Prime Minister reportedly said.

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, who was also present at the meeting, pointed out that while the anti-incumbency factor normally plagued the ruling parties, for the NDA there was a pro-incumbency factor at work.

The meeting took note of the fact that while most of the NDA was intact, the Opposition was struggling to put together a front that could take on the NDA.

The mood at the meeting was upbeat and both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister repeatedly stated that victory was certain.

The meeting was taking place on the eve of the start of the second part of the winter session. Immediately after the session ends on February 5, the party's National Council session will be held here, where all party MPs will be present.

The Council session will, in fact, mark the start of the ``fierce'' election campaign for the battle ahead.

That will be another occasion for the party leadership to convey its message to its members and workers on how to meet the challenge ahead.

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