Vajpayee plays his pet line: Give me one more chance

Hitting out at the Congress for ‘‘neglecting’’ the basic needs of people during its 45-year-rule, Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee today asked the electorate to vote NDA back to power to help it complete ‘‘unfinished tasks’’.

‘‘It is regrettable that basic needs of the people — education, health, electricity, water and roads — were neglected because the Congress governments set wrong priorities,’’ he said at a rally in Sawai Madhopur. Seeking another term in office to complete ‘‘unfinished tasks’’, Vajpayee said ‘‘only a government that works honestly can bring about change in the country’’. Ignoring other issues, the Prime Minister said his government did a ‘‘fantastically good job’’ to put the country on the fast track to development. ‘‘Indian economy has improved tremendously. We have comfortable foreign exchange reserves, prices are stable and farmers are being provided remunerative prices for their produce,’’ he said. State BJP chief L.K. Chaturvedi and party candidate from the constituency Jaskaur Meena also addressed the meeting.

Later in Kanpur, Vajpayee said the NDA had proved that parties with different ideologies could successfully run a government.

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Addressing a rally at the Phoolbagh ground, the PM said, ‘‘When the BJP-led NDA Government took over, there were doubts but we have proved that we can run the country and have shown it in the last six years.’’

Accusing the Congress of pulling down governments in the past, Vajpayee added: ‘‘The Congress toppled the Deve Gowda government, the I.K. Gujral government because it cannot let any other party rule the country for a long time.’’

Meanwhile, UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, who addressed a rally in Kanpur hours before the PM landed, said the SP would undertake serious efforts to unite smaller parties to form a viable coalition after the polls. ‘‘We will decide who will become the next PM. We will forge unity among smaller outfits to prop up a coalition to replace the NDA,’’ said Mulayam.