NDA agenda dumps foreign origin issue

NEW DELHI, JULY 31: The poll manifesto of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, or the National Agenda for Governance (NAG), to be re...

NEW DELHI, JULY 31: The poll manifesto of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, or the National Agenda for Governance (NAG), to be released by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on August 16, will not mention the much-hyped issue of debarring persons of foreign origin from contesting for the posts of Prime Minister and President.

A senior NDA member said the NAG will promise to bring in legislation to ensure that once elected, the Lok Sabha lasts its full five-year term. This provision will seek to end frequent elections and political instability.Dropping of the foreign-origin issue from the manifesto is surprising since the BJP has been propping it up as one of its election planks for a long time. The BJP leaders say the decision was taken because they did not want to target Sonia Gandhi directly. “We don’t want to give her undue publicity. Sharad Pawar, P A Sangma and Mulayam Singh Yadav are doing the job anyway,” an NDA member remarked. The NDA is, however, keen to highlight Sonia’s incapabilityto hold a high and responsible office like that of the Prime Minister, a senior BJP leader claimed. Despite failing to fulfil its promise of granting statehood to Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and Uttarakhand regions, the NDA would retain the issue of smaller States in the NAG. There will, however, again be no promise to create new states of Vidarbha and Telangana.

The NDA discussed a rough draft of the NAG at its two-hour meeting today with suggestions coming from several members. The alliance will finalise the draft at its next meeting on August 16 before Vajpayee releases it.

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The BJP leaders claim that the NAG was indeed the old BJP manifesto sans the three contentious issues: Article 370, Common Civil Code and the Ayodhya Ram Temple issue.

A number of titles were suggested by the NDA members for the NAG today which included Agenda-2000, Programme-2000 and A Programme for Proud and Prosperous India (suggested by Home Minister L K Advani). The meeting, however, could not finalise the title today.

The NAGwould virtually be a long list of the achievements of the 17-month-old Vajpayee Government, which include the budget, economy, soaring foreign reserves, declining inflation rate, highest-ever sensex, Kargil victory, the Nuclear Tests and the Lahore Declaration.

The NDA constituents, by paying tribute to the Kargil martyrs today, virtually conceded that the battle was won by the armed forces. But the NAG would highlight the Government’s successes on the diplomatic front in exposing Pakistan’s lie on intrusion.

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“We do not claim that we brought about victory on the battlefront but we will certainly claim that victory on the diplomatic front was brought about by the Prime Minister as well as External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh,” a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

The agenda will also advocate equal distribution of power and water between States. “We will like to remove disparities between the States,” a member said.