Advani puts focus on farmers and youth,targets Manmohan

The BJP pitch-forked the kisan to the forefront at a joint rally with ally RLD here on Tuesday when the NDA prime ministerial candidate.....

The BJP pitch-forked the kisan to the forefront at a joint rally with ally RLD here on Tuesday when the NDA prime ministerial candidate vowed to put the welfare of farmers and youth at the centre of his good governance agenda. Har haath ko kaam,har khet ko pani (work for every employable youth and enabling conditions for every farm,a slogan originally employed by Deendayal Upadhyay) is what we promise to the people, said L K Advani at a well-attended rally.

In a sign of changing times,the portraits of Deendayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee,flanking a full-length portrait of Chaudhary Charan Singh,formed the backdrop at the dais of the Railway Grounds,the venue of the rally.

Addressing his first rally after the notification of the elections,Advani said: The state of agriculture,and honesty and probity in public life,the two traits that one learns form the life of the late Charan Singh,shall also be the guiding principles of our Government. RLD chief Ajit Singh said the RLD-BJP/Bharatiya Jan Sangh alliance had always boded well for the Opposition in the history of India.

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Advani also kept up his attack on the diminishing authority of the Prime Ministers office when he repeated that he had not seen such a weak Prime Minister in the history of the Indian Union.

The most important address in this democracy is that of 7,Race Course (the official address of the Prime Minister. During the present UPA Government,however,its 10 Janpath (official residence of the Congress president) that has become more important. Whenever the PM has to take a decision,he sends a minister to 10,Janpath to seek permission. The country needs a strong Prime Minister,and the sanctity of the office of the Prime Minister needs to be restored. This is all the more important if the anarchy in a state like Uttar Pradesh has to be ended, said Advani.

The day also saw Jayant Chaudhary,the son of Ajit Singh and RLDs Mathura candidate,making his debut at a political rally. Jayant,in his early 30s,complemented Advani well and said,he represented the 75 per cent of the population in India today who are below 35.

The rally had the stamp of a traditional Jat Khaap (the mainstay of the RLD). Jayants wife,Charu,who walked onto the dais to seek the blessings of the elders,sat with another RLD woman contestant away from the main dais.

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BJP president Rajnath Singh and party general secretary and architect of the BJP-RLD alliance Arun Jaitley also spoke on the occasion. Rajnath spoke about his own achievements when he was the state chief minister. Jaitley spoke about the diminishing authority of the Prime Ministers office,the three-day terror strike in Mumbai and the need to uproot both the SP and BSP in the state.

Jayant is pitted against sitting Congress MP Manvendra Singh and BSPs Shyam Sunder Singh from Mathura.