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THE REDIFF ELECTION CHATS'In politics there are no runners-up, just winners'BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu tells the Rediff Chat. 'Sonia is no factor in Indian politics' 'The crowds at her meetings have been manipulated. But there is no machinery in the Congress to follow the climate created by Mrs Sonia. Why should we bother about her? I don't know where she will be after the election.' Leading BJP ideologue S S Bhandari tells the Rediff Chat. 'No party including the BJP will get a majority by itself' 'Every partner in the coalition must participate in the government. There should not be back-seat driving or power without responsibility.' Lok Shakti leader Ramakrishna Hegde tells the Rediff Election Chat. 'There is a very strong Vajpayee-Hinduja connection' 'In fact Atal Bihari Vajpayee had written a letter to prime minister Narasimha Rao seeking favours for the Hindujas. I believe this letter has become a matter of much debate in the think-tanks of the BJP. I am given to understand that the BJP spin doctors are trying to work out a strategy for dealing with this letter bomb.' Vishwajit Prithvijit Singh, the Congress party's top spin doctor, tells the Rediff Election Chat. 'The RSS doesn't use a remote control' 'The US cannot dictate to India about its N-policy. The US should also realise that India is not a mere market. It is a country with tradition, history and a purpose,' Organiser editor Seshadri Chari tells the Rediff Election Chat. 'Secularism is not the answer to all of India's problems' 'But a solution to India's problems is dependent upon it being a secular democracy. A country of India's diversity can be kept united only by strengthening the bonds of commonality amidst this diversity. And not by imposing a uniformity on this diversity.' CPI-M ideologue Sitaram Yechuri blasts the BJP on the Rediff Chat. 'I hold the BJP responsible for the murder of my great-grandfather' 'The people who want to redivide India on the lines of religion would first try and finish off the memory of someone who they are scared of from beyond his funeral pyre.' Tushar Gandhi, Samajwadi Party candidate from the Bombay North-West constituency, sounds off on Mahatma Gandhi and the forthcoming election on the Rediff Chat. 'Mr Rao started off as a Bhismapithamaha, became Dhithirashtra in the middle and ended up as Shakuni' 'Mr Kesri is not a PLU -- that is a person like us. But don't forget that he is more representative of India than either you or me.' Congress joint secretary Jairam Ramesh in a lively encounter on the Rediff Election Chat. 'The BJP thinks it can sell Vajpayee in the market. But nobody is there to buy that commodity' 'Parliamentary democracy in India has entered into a new phase or new era, in which coalition governments have come to stay at the Centre. In this era you have to project policies, programmes and manifestos of the political parties. Not individuals.' CPI national secretary Doraiswamy Raja tells The Rediff Election Chat. 'We are not going to forgive the Congress for the demolition of the Babri mosque' Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh tells the Rediff Election Chat. 'Sonia is simply not seen as a foreigner' '... or as an Italian; the notion being that the daughter-in-law is part of the husband's family and country. In this regard, there is absolutely no trace of xenophobia against her. For many, she is like a Mother to them!' The Sonia on the Stump Chat. 'Sonia's an Indian and has every right to contest the election' 'Mrs Sonia Gandhi belongs to a family who never lets his/her mind known until and unless the family takes a decision. The family always takes the right decision at the right time.' R K Dhawan tells The Rediff Chat. 'We sacrificed the govt rather than jeopardise national unity' 'To accept the Congress demand for compromise would have meant accepting the sweeping conclusion about the Tamil people as well as the DMK. This would have been a direct attack on our own national unity.' CPI leader A B Bardhan tells The Rediff Chat. |
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