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Maintain decency, Thakre orders BJP leaders

Bharatiya Janata Party president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre today said he had directed his party colleagues to maintain decorum in the election campaign.

Talking to reporters in Nagpur, Thakre said the campaign should be marked by decency and decorum and should be shorn of bitterness. It should be remembered that the persons on the other side of the fence were only political rivals, not enemies, he remarked.

Thakre made these comments in reply to a volley of questions on the derogatory statements allegedly made by Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan and Defence Minister George Fernandes against Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

He said Mahajan, who reportedly equated Gandhi with one-time White House intern Monica Lewinsky, had already clarified the factual position and he [Thakre] had nothing further to say.

He, however, did not find anything derogatory in Fernandes's remark. He said Fernandes was only trying to explain that Gandhi had done nothing for the country.

Apart from being a person of foreign origin, it could not be denied that she did not have the experience of running even a municipal corporation, Thakre remarked.

Fernandes was reported to have said during his campaign in Bellary that Gandhi's only contribution to the country was the addition of her two children to the population.

Referring to Gandhi's statement that the remarks of Mahajan and Fernandes reflected the anti-woman mindset of the BJP and its allies, Thakre said this was wrong. On the contrary, he pointed out, it was the Congress that had opposed the Women's Reservation Bill.

He claimed that the Congress was in for a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha election for pulling down the Vajpayee government without justification. In the next Lok Sabha, the Congress would not have strength even to pull down the government, let alone form it, he quipped.

Thakre blamed the Congress for politicising the kargil conflict. Gandhi made statements that were applauded by Pakistani leaders, he said. He also defended the nuclear tests and publication of the draft nuclear doctrine, saying they had raised India's prestige in the comity of nations.

UNI

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