Advani sees response,keeps heat on black money

NDA prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Saturday took his message on need to unearth black money stashed abroad to Bihar and Jharkhand....

NDA prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Saturday took his message on need to unearth black money stashed abroad to Bihar and Jharkhand,where he addressed a series of election meetings. Advani found in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a keen supporter of the idea.

When Nitish met him at the Patna airport,Advani recounted the observation of National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on the issue. The BJP has often cited how National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had cautioned in 2007 about terror money being responsible for the boom in the stock exchange then.

Speaking to The Sunday Express,Advani said there has been an enthusiastic response to an unconventional theme. There may be a dispute on the dimension of black money,but there is no dispute on black money itself. Even (CPM general secretary) Prakash Karat claimed that his party had raised the issue first.

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While the NDA leader made it a constant in all his speeches (The fund unearthed from tax havens abroad would be used for several developmental initiatives in rural India, he said),he also observed that spiritual gurus like Swami Ramdev had been raising the issue in his daily programmes.

Advani who has addressed meetings in 74 constituencies so far also called for a mechanism wherein Lok Sabha candidates have a debate under the supervision of the Election Commission. After Emergency,as I&B Minister I ensured that various political parties get time on television to put forth their views, he said.

Rest of his speeches in Bihar and Jharkhand were centered around the partys steadfast commitment to nuclear programme since the days of Jana Sangh and various developmental initiatives being run in BJP-ruled states today. Hindutva issues took a backseat in the JD(U)-BJP ruled state.

Meanwhile,the BJP leader was also visited by Varun Gandhi at his residence early on Saturday. While Advani asked him to abide by the undertaking that he has given to the Supreme Court,the young leader was given a go-ahead to campaign in Uttar Pradesh,besides fighting his own election in Pilibhit.