NEW DELHI, 10 December 2003 — With his domestic card paying political dividends and Pakistan policy winning diplomatic acclaim, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has perhaps little to worry about — at least for the moment. The Indian premier has, however, already begun carefully laying out his cards for the future. Along this line, Vajpayee cautioned his party members yesterday to remain vigilant about opposition’s attempts to “vitiate” the atmosphere.
“The opposition cannot face the defeat in assembly elections and they will make efforts to vitiate the atmosphere. So, we should be careful,” Vajpayee said at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting, according to party spokesman V.K. Malhotra.
Attributing the party’s victory in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to team work, Vajpayee said that the party should now begin preparing for the Lok Sabha elections. The party plans to bring into focus its election promises within the next 100 days.
“He (Vajpayee) said we have won but we are looking forward to the general election. We have to work really hard for it. Whatever promises we have made should be fulfilled. Our target should be to solve water, electricity and road problems. We have to meet it within 100 days,” Malhotra said.
On its part, the opposition is not losing any chance to target Vajpayee. His decision to defer his statement on the Judeo-episode provoked the opposition yesterday to accuse the government of not taking parliament seriously.
When Speaker Manohar Joshi announced that Vajpayee, earlier scheduled to make a statement yesterday, would do so today, the opposition members were up in arms.
Congress chief whip Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi said the government seemed to be avoiding the Judev episode. CPM leader Somnath Chatterjee said, “This shows that the Parliament is not being taken seriously.”
Meanwhile, there has been no change in Vajpayee’s attempt to normalize Indo-Pak ties through confidence building measures. Sunday evening was marked by Vajpayee expressing that he is looking forward to his Islamabad visit in the coming month to attend the SAARC Summit.
Vajpayee said this when the Pakistani Premier Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali telephoned him to thank him for having confirmed his decision to attend the SAARC summit.
Jamali also said that a “warm welcome” awaits Vajpayee in Islamabad.
During their five-minute conversation, the premiers agreed on some “positive bilateral developments,” including the cease-fire along the Line of Control having taken place over the past few weeks.
The two agreed that it was important to sustain the positive trends, sources said.
Recalling their last conversation in April, Vajpayee said that progress had been made in these areas.
