BJP SHOWS FEW SIGNS OF BEING KEEN TO DUMP MODI By Frederick Noronha
PANAJI (Goa), April 12 (IANS) The BJP is not keen to take action or drop its controversial Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, early indications emerging from the three-day national executive of the main party of India's ruling coalition suggested. BJP party president Jana Krishnamurthy said he was "sure" that the Gujarat government "will overcome the present difficult situation" and went on to "strongly condemn the hue and cry of those who demand the head of (the) Chief Minister of Gujarat". Krishnamurthy's comments came in his presidential address, slated to be delivered on Friday evening at the Goa party meet, and released in embargoed form to the press. "When the people are facing a calamity and when the Government was struggling to calm down the situation, the role of the Opposition and our opponents... were directed towards demoralising and discrediting those who were carrying out their responsibilities sincerely," said Krishnamurthy's text. His stand came even as the ruling NDA's major allies, the regional Telugu Desam Party on Thursday night demanding the immediate removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. "The TDP demands the BJP to immediately effect a change of leadership in Gujarat," a resolution adopted by TDP Polit Bureau at its meet here on Thursday evening had said. Said Krishnamurthy: "The nation needs to be saved from those forces whose only aim seems to be to destabilise the BJP Government even when the situation demands the cooperation of everyone to restore normalcy in a riot-torn state." Later in his speech, the party president urged the main Opposition Congress to "see reason and cooperate where it can and should... in the name of the best national interest". He said the BJP has been "moving in the direction of politics of consensus... but if the Congress choose to stick to the path of confrontation, the BJP inspite of having chosen the path of consensus is prepared to accept the challenge of the Congress in its politics of confrontation." Krishnamurthy's comments came in the one-third way down his speech, and were prefaced by pointing to the trying and "not exactly favourable" times the western Indian state of Gujarat had faced in the past three years -- with drought in the year 2000, a devastating earthquake in 2001 and what the party chief called "communal riots of a severe nature" gripping Gujarat this year. "No state, much more so Gujarat, deserved to (suffer) such successive natural calamities and man-made calamity," he said, and praised the "resilience and determination" of the people of that state. "They are sure to come out of the testing times of 2002 also," he said. Krishnamurthy termed as "condemnable" the role of the Opposition and "our critics". He went on to say that India "will have to find" a solution to communal strife if it is to progress. "Social disharmony and internal strif cannot help our nation move forward. All sections of people need to ponder of this seriously," said the BJP leader. "Every section of society when it think sthat it is whole of the part must realise that it is simply part of the whole, so much of its welfare and well being depends upon those of the entire society," he added. Top party leaders, including prime minister Vajpayee, are later Friday scheduled to address a political meeting in Goa, whose small 40-member state assembly goes to the polls by end May or early June, after the BJP got the House dissolved just before that party was threatened by dissidence in this instability-prone state. (Indo-Asian News Service). =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
