BJP to contest all AP seats for coming polls

HYDERABAD, MAY 7: The Bharatiya Janata Party will contest all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh in the forthcoming elections while...

HYDERABAD, MAY 7: The Bharatiya Janata Party will contest all the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh in the forthcoming elections while keeping options open for an alliance with friendly parties like the ruling Telugu Desam Party.

Addressing a press conference after an office-bearers’ meeting here, state BJP president Ch Vidyasagar Rao said that the party’s base “has been sufficiently expanded” in the past few months to fight the election single-handed.

The BJP polled more than 18 per cent of the votes in Andhra Pradesh in the 1998 elections, he said, and added that the situation has improved because of various programmes taken by the party.

Moreover, there was an overwhelming sympathy for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee after he lost the confidence motion by a margin of one vote. “The people have not taken kindly to those who conspired and pulled down the BJP government. They want Vajpayee back in the prime minister’s post,” he added.

Vajpayee would address a public meeting at Rajahmundry on May 16, being organised by the state unit. It would hold two separate conferences for minorities and women in the twin cities on June 5 and 12 respectively as part of the exercise to strengthen the party, Rao said.

BJP vice-president K Jana Krishna Murthy said that the nation witnessed the drama enacted by the Congress to bring down the BJP government. He accused Sonia Gandhi of uttering a “blatant lie” to the President by claiming support of 272 MPs for forming an alternative government.

On the possible alliances with various friendly parties, he said that the BJP was hopeful of support from all corners to defeat the Congress in the coming elections.

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Murthy said that the BJP-DMK combine would sweep the polls in Tamil Nadu whereas the Congress was facing rough weather there because of expected problems in winning the support of Tamil Maanila Congress in the event of an alliance with Jayalalitha’s AIADMK.