NEW DELHI: Political forces will realign at the national level only after the February Assembly polls, Janata Dal leader Hegde said. Addressing a Press conference in the Capital, Hegde riled outa rile for the BSP in any realignment, describing it as a temporary aberration but demurred on the inclusion of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. He said that his party had yet to decide ‘whether it could have any contact with the SP. All this would ‘be discussed and decided only after the outcome of the February polls, he said.
Hegde asserted that the Congress would lose the next parliamentary elections and that the JD and its allies were the only alternative, But he conceded that the party would have to shed its image of being panty with only one agenda reservations. “I am of the firm opinion and conviction that our society is so diverse that no party can acquire the stature of a national party if it ‘seeks support of only one section or the other. We have to seek the support of all sections and communities, he declared. Hegde pointed out that in the Kamataka Assembly. Elections, the issue of reservations did not figure at all. Now that the Mandal issue was over, it could not be chanted again and again, he said overshoe diplomatically gave full credit for the implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations to VP. Singh, Asked if the party would change its agenda, Hedge said that V.P. Singh had already started talking of the problems of the youth, The party could also focus on the economic liberalization policy of the present Government, he added.
The JD leader criticized the Center’s interference in Tamil Nadu, saying that the situation there had) become “the Governor ‘versus the People.” A Government elected by the people should’ be allowed to run its full term unless the ruling party splits, he asserted, adding that the Chief Minister of a State should have a say so that relations between the Executive and the Governor remained cordial. Dwelling at length on Center State relations, the JD leader felt these needed drastic review. “We should take a radical view and give greater autonomy to state governments so that unity and integrity of the country can be maintained,” he emphasized.
He said that a four tier federal system of government should operate one at the village level, one at the district level, the third at the state government level and the fourth at the Center. “If we had accepted this, problems like Punjab, Kashmir and the widespread unrest in the Northeast would never have occurred,” he stated.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 23, 1994
