Congress accepts Vajpayee's challenge

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 6. The Congress today said that it accepted the challenge of the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, to treat the forthcoming Assembly elections as a referendum on the Tehelka tapes disclosures. In fact, the party threw a counter-challenge at Mr. Vajpayee, asking him whether he was prepared to quit if the election results did not go in favor of the NDA.

Speaking at Bangalore yesterday, the Prime Minister, while referring to the coming Assembly polls, had said that the NDA was seeking justice in the Tehelka issue in the ``people's court''.

``We challenge him to stick to his words and if the results are not in favour of the NDA, he should pack his bags,'' the Congress spokesperson, Mr. Jaipal Reddy, said.

The Congress also accused the BJP of calling off its rallies ``because they were being shunned by the allies and disowned by the people''. Responding to the BJP's decision to cancel its rallies, Mr. Reddy said the real reason was that the fragility of the NDA stood exposed and none of the allies was willing to be seen with the BJP.

Ridiculing the BJP's claim that the rallies had been cancelled because the Congress' agitational programme had failed to take off, Mr. Reddy said his party's agitation was multi- phased and in the initial phase involved action only at the block and district level.

He said the second phase of the programmme would begin from April 15 and would comprise rallies and public meetings in big cities and State capitals in which senior functionaries of the AICC and the CWC members would participate.

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