MADRAS: The rightwing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) would not hesitate to fight Assembly polls due in nine states and two centrally administered territories independently if Prime Minister VP Singh’s Janata Dal was not prepared for an electoral understanding on the basis of reciprocity and ground realities, BJP vice president Jana Krishnamurthy said here Sunday.
Addressing the press at the end of the BJP’s Tamil Nadu state executive meet, Krishnamurthy said the Dal’s “Adamant attitude” during the parliamentary polls had affected the then opposition’s prospects in many constituencies in Uttal Pradesh and Bihar.
On the basis of its popularity, the BJP would contest the assembly polls in a big way, he said, listing Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and the Delhi as instances where the pro-Hindu party could get a majority on its own.
He said BJP had not participated in government at the Centre as it wanted to concentrate on the assembly polls.
The BJP would extend only critical support to the Janata Dal and not compromise on its stand on issues like abrogation fart 370 of the Constitution giving special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a common civil code and the dispute over a piece of land in Uttar Pradesh claimed as sacred by both Hindus and Muslims.
He however made it clear his party would support the V P Singh government when it sought a confidence vote. PTI L.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 29, 1989
