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BJP to raise Arunachal issue in Parliament

Special Correspondent

L.K. Advani

NEW DELHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani said here on Thursday that the Bharatiya Janata Party would like to raise the Arunachal Pradesh issue in both Houses of Parliament, preferably through a resolution stating that the State was an integral part of India.

Mr. Advani said that on Wednesday night he had talked to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, who was to get back to him to tell him whether the Government was willing to discuss the issue, "but he did not get back to me."

Apparently, the Government was keen that the issue not be raised while China's President Hu Jintao was in this country, a proposition to which the BJP readily agreed. But now the Opposition wanted to raise the issue as the visit was over.

The BJP leaders did not make secret of their view that they wanted to "show up" the Left to be less than patriotic and national while cornering the Government at the same time.

Mr. Advani said raising the issue was "very important" from the point of view of the people of Arunachal Pradesh. But, even when specifically asked, neither Mr. Advani nor Mr. Jaswant Singh were able to explain why the BJP had not put in place such a resolution when it was in power. It had not done so even ahead of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China in June 2003. Nor did Mr. Singh refute that the Indian and Chinese claims and counter claims on Arunachal Pradesh were on the table for discussion between the Special Representatives, a mechanism to discuss the border dispute set up during Mr.Vajpayee's visit to Beijing.

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