Unhappy allies take sheen off NDA show

He said that nobody can have a copyright over Ram or Allah. ‘‘Ram belongs to Muslims as much as to Hindus,’’ he said. Regretting his decision to quit politics as ‘‘stupid’’, he said: ‘‘Once you jump into it, you cannot escape. My late father had taught me that but I was a stupid son and did not listen to him. Now, I am silently retracting my decision to resign.’’

Accusing the US of dictating terms to India, Farooq asked the government not to succumb to Washington’s pressures and take ‘‘tough decisions’’ in national interest. ‘‘America is not God that it will say do this or that. Why should we do it? Are we slaves? Those days are gone,’’ he said. ‘‘Government should not talk to Pakistan till it stops terrorism permanently,’’ he said.

Earlier Chautala asked the Centre to increase old age pension from Rs 75 a month to Rs 200. He also called for nationalisation of all rivers so that states do not fight with each other over sharing river water. The INLD chief came in for some embarrassment when it was Vajpayee’s turn to speak. ‘‘Pardon me Chautalaji but don’t Dalits have a right to live,’’ he wondered referring to the killing of five Dalits in Jhajjar. But for these speakers from the allies’ camp and Samata Party’s Fernandes, who is also the NDA convenor, the dais did not have any leader of substance from the allies’ camp.

Trinamul Congress’ Mamata Banerjee has walked out of the alliance while MDMK chief Vaiko is behind bars booked under POTA ironically by the AIADMK’s J. Jayalalithaa who BJP chief M.Venkaiah Naidu proudly claimed was supporting the Centre. DMK chief M. Karunanidhi was absent while another DMK worthy Murasoli Maran is in the hospital. Even JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav stayed away. The Shiv Sena sent relatively lesser-known Chandrakant Khaire to represent it.