The Hindu : Intensify drive against infiltration: BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

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Intensify drive against infiltration: BJP

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, at the `chintan baithak' at Utthan near Mumbai on Thursday.

UTTHAN (THANE DT.) JUNE 19. Bharatiya Janata Party leaders at the `Chintan Baithak' conclave here today advocated a tougher line in dealing with cross-border terrorism. However, the focus at the meet was more on domestic issues.

The party elders wanted the Government to "intensify the drive'' against cross-border terrorism, even as they complimented the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, on his recent peace initiatives with Pakistan.

The leaders heard an account of the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani's trip to the U.S. and the U.K. But with the Lok Sabha elections looming, it was time the party got into election mode.

The participants wanted a fine-tuning of the NDA and have it oriented towards clearly identified segments of society— the poor, the jobless and the farmer — to woo voters. A slew of schemes was sought to be designed and delivered "speedily''.

No clue, however, was given as to what the various packages would be, and what their specific thrusts would be. The expectation among the participants was that time should not be lost on these "crucial" initiatives.

The BJP's relationship with the other partners of the NDA also came up. They said that at the Centre the relationship was one of mutual and continuing support, but at the State-level it was somewhat tense in several places. For instance, with the DMK, it was not a very good relationship. In Haryana, there were problems. In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena was supportive but stridently critical.

The official communiqué given to the media was specific that the discussions centred on relations with the BJP allies in the NDA and suggestions that unless this was done the numbers would not easily add up to the "clear mandate for the BJP and two thirds for the NDA''.

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