The Hindu : National : PM will contest only from Lucknow: Venkaiah

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 22, 2004

National

National

PM will contest only from Lucknow: Venkaiah

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 21. The Bharatiya Janata Party president, Venkaiah Naidu, today made it clear that the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will contest only the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat for which he has filed his nomination papers. He categorically denied reports that even at this stage he could think of contesting the Bhopal seat.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Naidu said the party today formally responded to the Election Commission's show cause notice issued to it after the Lucknow tragedy in which 22 women and two children died in a stampede when free saris were being distributed on the occasion of the birthday of the Uttar Pradesh State unit leader, Lalji Tandon.

He insisted that the BJP had nothing to do with the event. When asked about the women who died in the stampede, Mr. Naidu said: ``There were women's bodies and children's bodies.

Is se BJP ka kya lena dena hai? (What has the BJP to do with this?)''

``No offence was committed by the BJP,'' he said. Mr. Tandon had resigned as the convenor of the Lucknow constituency campaign committee because he took the ``moral responsibility'' for the tragedy.

Did the Election Commission commit a wrong in giving the BJP a notice? Mr. Naidu said he was ``not a Congress spokesperson to say that the Commission did any wrong.''

Although party leaders did not disclose what exactly they had written to the Commission, their public pronouncements make it clear that the BJP has denied any role in the sari distribution event and has washed its hands off the sordid affair.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National