Vajpayee Promises Cooperation

Leader of the opposition, Atal Behari Vajpayee, yesterday assured his partys constructive cooperation to the I K Gujral government, saying political differences and power struggles should not be allowed to impede the growth of the country.

We are prepared to forget our differences and I assure you (Gujral), my partys constructive cooperation for speedy development and tackling problems facing the country, Vajpayee said, participating in the day-long debate on the confidence motion in Gujral government.

Let political differences continue. Let the power struggle go on. But this should not stop the countrys onward march for development and progress, he said while responding to Gujrals suggestion for cooperation and consensus.

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress for dragging the high office of the President in needless controversy, he said though it gave an elaborate chargesheet on United Front governments failure on law and order and economic fronts, it had agreed to support the same team minus Deve Gowda.

Why Gowda was singled out and why the country needed a new Prime Minister? asked Vajpayee while reading out the four-page letter of the Congress given to the President, Shanker Dayal Sharma, for withdrawing support to the Deve Gowda government.

Vajpayee castigated the Congress for its irresponsible act, saying the Congress has no right to play with the future of over 90 crore people of India.

Amid interruptions from senior members of the United Front, Vajpayee sought a categorical assurance from Gujral that his government would not interfere with investigations and court cases under any circumstances.

Quoting from the speech of Gowda on april 11, the day his government was defeated, the BJP leader said the outgoing Prime Minister had given clear indications of pressures on him by saying I did not interfere in any case. I did not initiate any case in the last ten months. There was even a case against a Chief Minister of my party.

At this stage, he was interrupted by Sharad yadav who said Gowda was speaking from his heart and his statement should not be distorted. Even Advani was prosecuted. But we did not raise an issue about him. Likewise Laloo Yadav is also facing some charges but he is not convicted, Yadav said.

Vajpayee retorted: Dont compare Advaniji with Laloo Yadav. Advani resigned from Lok Sabha the day he was chargesheeted and decided not to enter parliament till he was acquitted.

This elictied sharp reactions from Yadav and the defence minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who said there were upright leaders in other parties also.