Karan fields jabs before clash with Atal

NEW DELHI, SEPT 11: The battle for Lucknow began today even before Congress candidate Karan Singh could file his nomination papers for wh...

NEW DELHI, SEPT 11: The battle for Lucknow began today even before Congress candidate Karan Singh could file his nomination papers for what he billed as 8220;the contest of the 1999 elections8221;.

BJP spokespersons Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitley fired the first salvo at the party briefing this evening. They said Singh had headed a committee which had recommended a pre-1953 status for Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress and Singh owed an explanation for this, they declared, for if the committee8217;s suggestion had been implemented, Kashmir would have had a different Prime Minister.

Singh hit back with a reminder that he quit the committee within six months of its constitution precisely because he differed with these views. 8220;I knew the trend and I resigned,8221; he said.

He said Jamp;K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was a member of this committee. 8220;It was a National Conference Committee, set up in 1996. The NC is a member of their the BJP8217;s alliance now. It is their responsibility, not ours. Please set the recordstraight,8221; he said.

The lightning strike by the BJP took the former Union minister by surprise. Just before that, he had vowed to keep his electoral battle with Vajpayee free of the mudslinging that has been going on.

Shourie described Singh8217;s decision to take on Vajpayee as 8220;an unexpected and untypical8221; act of bravery by the Congress nominee.

Singh himself is candid about the daunting task ahead of him in challenging Vajpayee on his home turf. But he is unfazed: 8220;I am no stranger to politics or administrative experience and I am looking forward to an exciting encounter.8221; The ex-ruler of Jamp;K is the Congress party8217;s answer to the BJP8217;s decision to field Sushma Swaraj against Sonia Gandhi in Bellary. Through Singh, the party hopes to raise the profile of the Lucknow contest and get it the kind of media attention the Sushma-Sonia battle attracted.

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A man who has served the country in various capacities 8212; be it as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir for 18 long years or Union Minister in the Indira Gandhicabinet or a short stint as ambassador to the United States 8212; Singh, with his scholarly predilections, is viewed in Congress circles as their best match for Vajpayee.

But what are the issues with which Singh plans to take on Vajpayee? 8220;The main issue will be stability versus rickety short-lived coalitions8230;an alliance with 24 members such as the NDA is inherently incapable of providing a stable, long-lasting government,8221; he points out.