Development key, all others can wait: PM

Sending out a clear poll message not only to the Congress but elements within his own party and the saffron combine, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said it was necessary that elections be completely focused on issues related to development.

In Bhopal, while he attacked the Digvijay Singh government for the lack of roads and power in the state, the PM chose not to utter a single word on the events that transpired in Ayodhya just days ago.

8216;8216;In MP, the electorate has to decide. For this it is necessary that the elections be centred on developmental issues. It is natural that other questions will come up but development is the biggest issue,8217;8217; Vajpayee said.

As he addressed a women8217;s meet 8212; it was a programme that had earlier been touted as the culmination of Uma Bharti8217;s rath yatra 8212; and took the attack to Digvijay, it was hard to escape the conclusion that he had in mind an audience outside MP as well.

8216;8216;I have heard that the MP CM and others are very worried about bachelors. They said the state was not receiving rain because the PM is a bachelor. But since the day this was said, it has not stopped raining in this state. But should an election be fought on such issues? For that matter even the President is a bachelor and it makes no difference.8217;8217;

8216;8216;But this has become an election issue. This is okay as a joke but to spread such superstition is not okay. The world does not unfold according to the nakashatra aur graha stars. I have no objection to those who have faith in the stars but we need purusharth aur parishram strength and hard work.8217;8217;

His attack on the state of roads and the power sector in MP was far more pointed: 8216;8216;Sadak mein gaddhe ya gaddhon mein sadak hai yahan Are there potholes on the roads or a road through potholes? Sometimes we read news of lack of roads, of the lack of power in the state. At the time of elections such questions have to be answered. Ten years is not a short time. In five years, we have brought about a qualitative change in the country.8217;8217;

He stressed that while India was demonstrating to the world how growth, employment and progress could be achieved through democratic means, it was not happening as fast as it should because the country was made up of states, and some states such as MP were not keeping pace.

In this context, he pointed to the high infant mortality rate in the state and the lack of literacy. He singled out the fact that MP had the highest number of rape cases in the country and said this could not be tolerated: 8216;8216;A single case of rape in Delhi has resounded through the world, and these figures cannot be of concern only to people in MP.8217;8217;