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If J&K can go to the polls, why not Gujarat, ask BJP leaders

The BJP worker is unable to understand the fuss about the disturbed law and order situation in Gujarat while Jammu and Kashmir, where militants have threatened to disrupt polls, is expected to go in for elections as per schedule sometime in September-October.

To those who contend that there are many displaced persons in Gujarat, BJP sources pointed out that there are hundreds of thousands of displaced persons in J&K 'where law and order is non-existent'.

'Yet it is going to the polls. So why can't Gujarat have elections?" they ask.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Saturday held discussions with BJP president Venkaiah Naidu on the Gujarat assembly elections.

BJP general secretary and spokesman Arun Jaitley reportedly briefed the two leaders about his Friday meeting with Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh and the two Election Commissioners T S Krishnamurthy and B B Tandon regarding holding elections in Gujarat, party sources said.

Among other things pertaining to the Gujarat polls, the BJP strategy of drafting its Muslim leaders in the poll campaign also came up for discussion at the hour-long meeting at Naidu's residence in Delhi, they said.

After the meeting, Naidu rejected the demand for elections to be held under President's rule and accused the Congress and Left Parties of adopting double standards.

BJP sources said that when Shankarsinh Vaghela, then leader of the Rashtriya Janata Party, was forced to resign as Gujarat chief minister in 1997, he 'conspired' to make his right-hand man Dilip Parikh the chief minister overruling demands for fresh elections and imposition of President's rule.

Now, Vaghela is leading the Congress in Gujarat and is among those who have demanded elections under President's rule, they point out.

With inputs from PTI

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