Opinion January 09, Forty Years Ago: Election action plan
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, categorically denied that a decision on the number of Lok Sabha seats his party and the Lok Dal would contest had been taken or the exercise had even been started.
The three-day national council session of the Bharatiya Janata Party concluded with sounding an election alert to its units throughout the country. The council has given a seven-point action programme to gear up the party organisation for polls. It has called upon all party units to remain in a state of election throughout this year because it feels that ‘‘the possibility of a snap poll cannot be ruled out”.
BJP-Lok Dal seats
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, categorically denied that a decision on the number of Lok Sabha seats his party and the Lok Dal would contest had been taken or the exercise had even been started. He described “totally baseless” reports that had appeared in a section of the press to this effect. He said the state units of the BJP had been asked to start looking for candidates in consultation with lower units of the party.
Cochin as drug centre
How the plight of an international yachtsman, an Australian, stranded in the South Indian port of Cochin, and his accidental acquaintance with an alleged illusive drug smuggler, James Charles Howard, resulted in the haul of a $100 million worth of hashish, has come to light. It makes some interesting revelations — one of which is that there is a possibility that Cochin is turning into a fast-growing conduit for a spectrum of hard and soft drugs, particularly those from Afghanistan.
Fear of arrest
Akali Dal president Harchand Singh Longowal has advised party leaders and activists to “go underground” to evade possible arrest before January 27. He expressed fear that they may be rounded up by the police because of the “revolutionary” action of the party to be followed after he announces the new programme on January 26 for pressing their demands. However, he told them to work wholeheartedly and intensify their efforts.
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