PM, Sonia call off Maharashtra rallies

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, APRIL 5. Two major political rallies, one to be addressed by Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee at Mumbai to take the sting out of Tehelka exposures and another by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi as part of her ``war against BJP'' at Nagpur have been cancelled.

Mr. Vajpayee's rally, with all constituents of the National Democratic Alliance, at the Shivaji Park here was planned - BJP here insists it was ``never announced'' - for April 8 and there was speculation that Mr. Bal Thackeray, with his reservations, may be less than enthusiastic to address it.

Congress(I) backed off from Mrs. Gandhi's rally, which was intended to take the anti-BJP campaign to the streets and which was scheduled for April 7, despite substantial preparations,

``It has been cancelled,'' a source said. It has been postponed, says Mr. Govindrao Adik, MPCC(I) Chief citing no reasons except Mrs. Gandhi's ``preoccupations.''

Though the BJP is convinced that it can pull off a rally for Mr. Vajpayee with or without the Sena's help, the Sena's participation in it was never in question, after Mr. Manohar Joshi, Union Heavy Industries Minister being present at the first meeting at New Delhi. But Mr. Thackeray, with his whimsy, was capable of embarrassing the BJP.

Mr. Thackeray, it may be recalled, had the anti- Brajesh Mishra, anti-N. K. Singh and anti-Ranjan Bhattacharya editorial in his newspaper Saamana disowned as something written by executive editor of the newspaper, Mr. Sanjay Raut.

The Sena, of late, on the issue of Kashmir ceasefire, and the labour reforms where people can be easily divested of jobs, has been rather forthcoming and said it did not like the developments but at the same time, does not want to destabilize the Vajpayee Government.

Clearly, the Sena wants to have the cake, and eat it too and this may have added to the unease of the BJP which already faces the possibility of the Telugu Desam staying away from a similar NDA rally in Hyderabad. Obviously, if the rally is held here, it could be a public relations disaster.

But the BJP has a clear explanation. Mr. Vajpayee, scheduled to leave for Teheran on April 9 morning, needs to return to New Delhi and cannot spend the evening a day earlier in Mumbai addressing a rally, however important or significant. Otherwise, BJP officials said, ``he would have addressed one.''

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Section  : Other States
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