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Swamy, Bommai to form front

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, JAN. 10. The Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, today said that he had held discussions with S.R. Bommai, president of the All-India Progressive Janata Dal (AIPJD), in Bangalore on Friday and discussed the possibilities of consolidating the "secular and patriotic forces" in order to meet the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a press conference here today, Dr. Swamy said the two parties had decided to work together and form a front to contest the elections on the Janata party's symbol of `chakra haldar.' Alternatively, the AIPJD would merge itself with the Janata party.

Stating that the proposed formation would contest all the seats in Karnataka, Dr. Swamy said efforts were on to have electoral adjustments with other parties like the Raita Sangha and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

"I am also planning to approach S. Chandra Shekhar, former Prime Minister and other JP movement leaders to join the party so that the Janata Party could emerge again as an alternative national, patriotic and secular party," Dr. Swamy said, adding that a formal announcement in this regard was expected on January 14.

Criticising the BJP Government's recent mini-budget as a step that would further "wreck the fiscal balance of the economy", Dr. Swamy said the NDA Government had given the people a "post-dated cheque on a crashing bank."

He condemned the Congress for aligning with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He said his party would contest in Madurai and in some other constituencies. It would also provide "unconditional support" to the AIADMK to defeat the DMK-Congress-MDMK alliance.

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