Advani rules out alliance with NCP after elections

PUNE, AUG 8: Union Home Minister L K Advani today ruled out the possibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking a post poll alliance wi...

PUNE, AUG 8: Union Home Minister L K Advani today ruled out the possibility of the Bharatiya Janata Party seeking a post poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party, and maintained that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would muster a clear mandate in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

Advani, who will head the BJP’s campaign committee after the formal notification of the general election is issued, however said in the same breath that the BJP was not averse to seeking support from any party, in case the latter was willing to lend support to the government. Why should we deny any one willing to support our government?’ he asked.

Speaking at a meet-the-press organised by the Pune Union of Working Journalists, Advani dwelt at length over political trends in past decade, Kargil insurgency and fresh attacks in Kashmir.

Advani had a firm no’ to the possibility of a post election alliance with NCP president Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra to form the government. The ruling saffron alliance in theState too would get a clear majority, he affirmed.Declining to go into the jargon of numbers, Advani refused to predict the number of seats his party would be able to secure in the Lok Sabha. Yet he maintained, It would be substantially more than the bare required majority of 272.’

Expressing confidence that the BJP-led alliance would get a clear mandate, Advani said that this would be a reversal of the trend witnessed in the last four general elections that since 1989 no party has received a clear majority. Another reversal in trends, he said, would be that the incumbent prime minister would get a renewed mandate, a distinction denied to all the other six prime ministers the country had since 1989.

Advani said the BJP would satisfy the electorate by turning self-governance into good governance. The BJP would concentrate on areas of governance with its political partners while keeping aside ideological differences. The 15-month government has established its bonafides and credentials about mattersrelating to national security, international diplomatic relations, and economy, he maintained.