The Hindu : National : BJP to go it alone in Haryana, Arunachal

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Monday, Jul 19, 2004

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National

BJP to go it alone in Haryana, Arunachal

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 18. The Bharatiya Janata Party will not have alliance with any party in Haryana for the coming Assembly elections.

Ruling out the possibility of a tie-up with Om Prakash Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) or Bansi Lal's Haryana Vikas Party (HVP), the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, told reporters here today that except for minor adjustments for four to five seats with local groups, the party would contest the Assembly elections on its own strength.

This decision was taken following a meeting with the BJP leaders from Haryana and another with the party general secretaries here this morning.

The meetings were attended by the former Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, Jaswant Singh and Sushma Swaraj.

According to the BJP general secretary, M.A. Naqvi, the decision to go it alone in Haryana had been taken at the insistence of the State leaders.

Mr. Naidu said there was "renewed enthusiasm" among the people of Haryana towards the party and it had even got 17-18 per cent of the votes in the Lok Sabha elections that it had contested alone after the INLD snapped ties with it just before the polls. The BJP won only one of the 10 Parliamentary seats in the State.

He said more and more people were extending support to the party as they wanted to "get rid of" dynastic rule.

The BJP will also contest on its own the coming Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh. This was decided after Mr. Advani met the State Chief Minister, Gegong Apang, and the State unit leaders this morning.

However, in Bihar and Jharkhand, the BJP will tie up with the Janata Dal (United).

Assembly elections in the two States are scheduled for early next year.

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