The Hindu : New Delhi News : NDA Govt. on its way out: Congress

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

NDA Govt. on its way out: Congress

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 27. The senior Congress leader and political secretary to the party president, Ahmed Patel, today declared that the latest election trends indicated that the NDA Government led by the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at the Centre was on its way out and the winding-up process had already begun in North Block and South Block, the power centres of the country.

Addressing a press conference here along with all the seven party candidates for the Lok Sabha from Delhi, Mr. Patel said that a secular government would be formed at the Centre after the polls. He hoped that "all secular-minded parties would join hands to ensure that the corrupt and communal NDA set-up does not rule the country any more".

Asked if the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party would also join this secular front, Mr. Patel said he could not comment on their positions but hoped that these parties would work to strengthen the secular forces. "The Government of scams, as the NDA was known, has failed to fulfil its promises and implement the agenda on which it rode to power. The people of the country have already realised this and made up their mind to send the Vajpayee Government packing," Mr. Patel asserted.

Seated alongside Mr. Patel was the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, the Delhi PCC president, Chaudhary Prem Singh, the AICC secretaries, Anil Shastri and Dalbir Singh, and all the seven party candidates from Delhi. In fact, the candidates were so overwhelmed by the occasion and the presence of shutterbugs that they forgot to speak about their own election campaigns and the programme ended prematurely.

Referring to the recent utterances of the Prime Minister, Mr. Patel, who is the AICC leader in charge of Delhi, said that there was total confusion in the BJP top leadership about the future. He said Mr. Vajpayee talked about his successor which in itself was an indication that even he was also not confident about the BJP-led Government coming back to power at the Centre. On the other hand, the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, talked about becoming the Prime Minister -- "another indication of the power struggle within the BJP".

Mr. Patel said the Prime Minister was getting forgetful with each passing day. "One day he forgets the name of his niece and on another occasion he talks about these being Rajya Sabha and not Lok Sabha polls. In another instance, he had to be reminded about the agenda of the meeting in Rajasthan. He had time and again failed to mention the names of various candidates. This is a serious thing and the electorate is well aware of it."

Accusing the BJP of creating an artificial atmosphere in the country with regard to development and progress, Mr. Patel said the people of the country had deflated the "India Shining fraud".

Referring to Delhi, Mr. Patel said the Congress was heading for a big win in Delhi as the people had understood the evil designs of the BJP and its candidates. "The excellent work done by the Sheila Dikshit Government and the hurdles created in the path of the smooth functioning of the State Government by the Centre had not been liked by the people of Delhi". He accused the BJP and its leaders of taking Delhiites for a ride over the issue of Statehood and regularisation of unauthorised colonies.

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