JAIPUR: Outgoing president of BJP Lal Krishna Advani Thursday said Congress-I’s mortal fear to face elections might put off a mid-term poll but urged his party to be prepared for the election in view of the inherent instability of the minority Shekhar govt.

At his last press conference as party chief Advani said he had changed his views on mid-term poll in the past 11 days because of the desperate efforts by the Congress-I to probe ways and means of delaying elections.

He charged the Congress-I with making efforts to capture power in New Delhi by displacing the miniscule Chandra Shekhar government when it would suit them.

Advani said the BJP national executive at its meeting Thursday expressed its disapproval of the controversial dinner hosted by the party parliamentarian Dr J K Jain for the international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.

Advani said he and senior party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee had declined Jain’s dinner invitation.

On the imposition of the president’s rule in Tamil Nadu Advani said it was true that the DMK government was turning a blind eye to LTTE activities in the state but the center appeared to have succumbed to the combined pressure of the Cong and AIADMK.

Advani said the center should have explored all the avenues and should have invoked article 356 imposing direct rule only after the efforts had proved fruitless.

To a question he said there could not be any comparison between the imposition of president’s rule in Tamil Nadu and Assam.

In the case of Assam he said the tenure of the assembly was about to end whereas in the case of Tamil Nadu the duly elected DMK government had still three years to go.

Referring to the disqualification issue Advani said that the five ministers disqualified from Lok Sabha should be removed before the budget session of parliament began.

He said the BJP plenary beginning Friday would discuss economic and political issues besides the Gulf war and the action plan for the party prepared by an 18 member study group.

He said the Congress-I was absolutely scared of facing the people and suffered from an obsessive anxiety to avert polls.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 8, 1991