NEW DELHI: An opinion poll conducted on a national scale shows that 68% of the people feel that Prime Minister Rao is lying in the matter of allegations of Rs 1 crore bribe and that he should step down from office. More than 15,219 persons responded to the poll questionnaire published in 16 editions of Indian Express which covered almost the length and breadth of the country, of those who said Rao was lying, 97% are in favor of his quitting. Surprisingly, the resignation demand is uniform, even in south India which has a sizeable pro Congress (I) Strength in the Parliament. Most of the Congress(I) M.Ps from south India support Rao, Only 32% people who responded to the questionnaire said that stock broker Harshad Mehta was lying and that, by implication, the Prime Minister need not resign.
Indian Express had earlier carried out an opinion poll on the Babri Masjid demolition issue in December 1992. In that poll, only 46% of the 7000 respondents had favored Rao’s resignation while 67% had merely observed that the Rao government had lost credibility.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 9, 1993
