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Jaitley rules out early Lok Sabha elections

Bhopal Dec. 7. Ruling out early Lok Sabha polls after BJP's spectacular victory in the December 1 Assembly elections in the Hindi heartland, the Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, today said parliamentary elections would be held as per schedule. ``Lok sabha elections will be held as per schedule. There is no possibility of advancing them,'' he told reporters here, adding that overwhelming support for the BJP could be witnessed in the recent Assembly polls.

Election results were not governed by any particular incident but by voters themselves, and in Madhya Pradesh, the people decided to give their verdict against the ``misrule'' of the Congress Government for the last 10 years. The BJP had worked out its agenda for the Assembly elections in the four States six months ago, ``while there was no agenda with the Congress, which was merely reacting to our statements in the run-up to the polls.''

'Evidence against Jogi'

On the alleged attempt by the former Chhatisgarh Chief Minister, Ajit Jogi, and his son, Amit, to bribe the BJP legislators in the State to break the party, Mr. Jaitley said that prima facie all evidence was against him. ``Falsehood always falls apart while truth always holds together.''

``All evidence indicates that Mr. Jogi, Mr. Amit, P.R. Khunte, estranged BJP MP, who is now in the Congress, and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, are involved in the scandal. The question is whether Ms. Gandhi's name was misused. ``In the Judev episode, there was no one to claim as to who really got the benefit or offered money, but in the case of Mr. Jogi, Virendra Pande says he got the money,'' Mr. Jaitley said.

PTI, UNI

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