The Hindu : National : Congress tally will not touch 2-digit mark in polls, says Advani

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Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

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National

Congress tally will not touch 2-digit mark in polls, says Advani

By Marcus Dam

DURGAPUR, APRIL 28. "I will be surprised if in 2004 [in the coming Lok Sabha polls] the Congress can cross the two-digit [mark], ... its tally having dropped to 112 in 1999 from 400 plus in 1984," the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, said at an election rally at the Rajiv Gandhi Maidan here today.

Neither "does anyone know who the Congress has to offer as Prime Minister." "All these days I have been saying that the coming contest is between Vajpayeeji and a question mark. But now I have started saying that it is one between Vajpayeeji and several question marks," Mr. Advani said. The situation was similar to one "when the captain of a cricket team is decided after the match is played."

"The 2004 polls will be extraordinary as the country has reached a stage in its development where 100 crore people are expecting a lot from the [next] Government and the entire world is looking on," he said. The BJP becoming the largest party in the last elections, 20 years after holding just two seats in Parliament, "has not been accidental but is the result of a conscious effort to respond to a changing situation."

"The time has come for some introspection for both the Congress and the Communists. No party can flourish by being the B team of another and today the Communists have become the Congress' B team," said Mr. Advani who is on whirlwind tour of West Bengal.

The National Democratic Alliance had "ensured political stability and political certainty, having one Prime Minister in its six years of being in power." "Whereas in the 10 years since 1988 [till the NDA assumed power] India had seen as many as seven Prime Ministers."

The efforts of Mr. Vajpayee and the NDA Government had made the country a "worthwhile competitor" in the international arena and would make it a fully-developed country by 2020. He assured that "by 2007, all villages will be connected by proper roads," and said that the NDA Government was the first to realise the need for better highways as envisaged in the Golden Quadrilateral scheme.

Mr. Advani criticised the West Bengal Government "for having failed to woo investors" but did not mention the oft-repeated allegations by the Trinamool Congress — the NDA ally in the State — of the breakdown in law and order.

"A vote [for the Trinamool candidate] is a two-in-one; you will be voting for [the candidate] as well helping making Vajpayeeji the Prime Minister," he said.

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