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Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
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Rajnath: BJP prefers polls if Manmohan loses trust vote

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party would prefer fresh elections in the event of the government collapsing on the floor of the Lok Sabha on July 22, rather than go for a short-term alternative arrangement.

Party president Rajnath Singh said: “If the Government falls, there should be a fresh mandate.” Asked for his views on remarks made on camera by general secretary of the Communist Party of India A.B. Bardhan that an alternative government headed by Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati could be propped up with “outside support,” the BJP chief said “fresh elections would be in the best interests of the country.”

Some other party leaders also came out strongly against any arrangement that would lead to the formation of a government headed by Ms. Mayawati. They said that both Rajnath Singh and BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Arun Jaitley had earlier categorically stated “there was no question of the BJP tying up with the BSP in UP.”

There is also the view that supporting a government from the outside for a few months would mean that the BJP would not be able to get the full electoral advantage of the current inflation and agricultural distress.

“It would be suicidal for the party to even think of such a move,” a senior party person said, adding that the BJP had already paid a “heavy political price in Uttar Pradesh” for supporting her thrice as Chief Minister. Party leaders recalled that Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani “clarified” comments made in Kanpur to say he had made no overture to Ms. Mayawati.

However, after the recent disclosure by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Jaswant Singh, that he had the party’s permission “to offer prime ministership to any leader of the United National Progressive Alliance” last year in July ahead of the presidential contest between Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Pratibha Patil, not many strongly denied that the party was not “offering the prime ministership” to some other leader to take forward its agenda of ensuring the government’s defeat in the trust vote.

On Sunday, BJP MPs will meet at Parliament House Annexe at 5.30 p.m. followed by a solidarity dinner hosted by the BJP for all MPs of the NDA.

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