US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Sena-BJP to discuss simultaneous polls soon

Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, today said the coordination committee of the Sena-BJP alliance would meet in four to five days to discuss the possibility of holding the Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections in the state simultaneously.

Talking to newsmen in Nagpur, Thackeray said the coordination committee was to meet yesterday but it could not as Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan wanted to discuss the issue with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee first. Also, the BJP state unit president, Suryabhan Wahadane, was not available.

Thackeray, who is here to address the Sena's Vidarbha-level convention named as 'Sankalpa Shibir', claimed that the Sena-BJP alliance would do extremely well both in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.

Replying to a question, the Sena chief described as impractical the idea of forming a national government to deal with the situation created by Pakistani intrusion in Kargil. It would be a futile exercise, he remarked and added that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was dealing with the situation firmly.

Thackeray further said that the Pakistani-backed infiltrators should not be captured but killed. ''Pakistan must get a befitting reply,'' he added.

He parried questions on the controversial statement of Defence Minister George Fernandes giving a clean chit to the Pakistani Prime Minister and his country's intelligence agency ISI. He also did not respond to a question whether there was a failure of intelligence on the part of the Indian Army. These were ''petty issues'' which could be discussed later, he said.

Regarding the demand for a separate state of Vidarbha, Thackeray said that what was important was development and the present government was concentrating on that. He also said former MP Jambuvantrao Dhote, who joined the Sena recently, concurred with his view.

Dhote joined the Sena without any pre-conditions, he remarked. Asked whether Dhote would contest the Lok Sabha polls, Thackeray said he wanted him to contest assembly polls. He also said he would discuss with former Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, the possibility if his (joshi's) contesting the Lok Sabha polls.

Thackeray expressed confidnce that the BJP-led coalition would get absolute majority in the Lok Sabha polls due in September. He, however, added that no single party would be able to form government at the Centre on its own strength.

He said he would deny the party tickets to those against whom there were complaints of corruption and inefficiency. There was also possibility of the Shiv Sena and the BJP exchanging some constituencies, he added.

The Sena chief claimed that some Republican Party of India leaders had approached him for electoral understanding but he refused to divulge their names.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report