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Monday, Jul 19, 2004

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BJP to launch nationwide 'anti-appeasement campaign'

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 18 . The Bharatiya Janata Party will launch a nationwide "anti-appeasement campaign" to protest against the five per cent additional reservation announced for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh.

Announcing this here today, the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, said that during the fortnight-long campaign, beginning July 26, party workers will go to the village level and highlight the "appeasement policy" of the present Government which, he said would divide society. The party leaders will submit memoranda to district authorities and Governors to demand scrapping of this provision. Mr. Naidu alleged that the additional reservation in Andhra Pradesh was just an experiment and if successful, it would be extended to other States. "This will have serious repercussions on social harmony and there is every danger of disintegration of the country," he said. The BJP had already supported an economic package for the minorities where the beneficiaries would be Muslims also, but it was opposed to reservations based on religion. "We are not against Muslims and will continue to make efforts to win them over but we want them to come out of this votebank politics," he said. Mr. Naidu said the party was opposed to increasing the foreign direct investment but would not like to specify the percentage and the party's stand had already been made clear by the former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

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