UP, Babri force BJP to think of polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party leadership feels the best way of ending the Uttar Pradesh impasse is to go in for elections.

The conclusion seems to be driven by the twin crises plaguing the party -- the controversy over the state assembly speaker issue and Special Judge J P Srivastava's decision to frame criminal charges against several party leaders including party president Lal Kishinchand Advani in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

A senior party leader pointed out that legal luminaries were studying the special judge's decision.

As the view that the party is thinking of elections to wriggle out of the present crisis gained ground, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the Ayodhya issue has been deliberately rekindled, thanks to a conspiracy hatched by the Centre.

Party vice-president Krishna Lal Sharma, however, said, ''If the Ayodhya issue is raked up again, the advantage will certainly go to the BJP. The people know that the other parties are ganging up against the BJP.''

Significantly, the BJP central leadership has already asked its Uttar Pradesh unit to file within 10 days a report on the public mood on the Ayodhya issue.

A Supreme Court advocate, closely identified with the BJP, said the timing of the chargesheet was ''self-explanatory''. It does not need a genius to figure out that the Centre "had hatched a conspiracy against the BJP to put it in the dock," he said. would seek legal redressal in higher courts.

Referring to the Election Commission's recent order barring convicted persons from contesting elections, the advocate pointed out that such crucial decisions indicate that there was a well-thought-out plan to hound the BJP. But this too could be challenged in court, he said, adding that legal experts in the party were engaged in taking care of such matters.

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