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Vajpayee asks Congress to clarify stand on coalition, rebuts Sugargate charge

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee today asked the Congress to clarify whether it intended to form a coalition government at the Centre after the elections and spell out its stand on Article 356 which empowered the Centre to dismiss state governments and impose President's rule.

Vajpayee also dismissed the Congress charge that importing sugar from Pakistan was not in the national interest and asserted that ''there was nothing unpatriotic about it.''

He said the Prime Minister's Office had already clarified that it had nothing to do with the import of sugar as it was placed under the open general licence and any trader was free to import the commodity.

Stating that the government also had a responsibility to control the prices, he said, ''When we were fighting the war we were also eating sugar.'' Trade relations with other countries were not disturbed because of the Kargil conflict, he asserted.

Vajpayee said the Congress had made it a habit to make baseless allegations. When one did not stick, it would come out with another. This was an indication of its impending defeat in the coming elections.

Asked about the production of documents which indicated that the government had ignored early warnings about the intrusion in the Kargil sector, he said those documents had not been verified yet. ''If the original documents are produced we will react to them,'' Vajpayee said.

In a hard hitting statement at a press conference in Hyderabad, he said during the course of the current election campaign, the BJP and the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance had repeatedly asked the Congress to clarify its stand on Article 356 in view of the infamous record of misuse of this constitutional provision by successive Congress governments in the past.

The prime minister alleged that the Congress had used Article 356 recklessly during its long tenure at the Centre to dismiss opposition ruled state governments. ''Nothing has caused more damage to harmonious Centre-state relations, to the country's democratic fabric and to the developmental process in states than such authoritarian conduct of the Congress party. This is also the root-cause of many acute regional problems facing the country today'', he charged.

Vajpayee said the continued silence of the Congress leadership on Article 356 showed that the party remained both unrepentant over its past record and was unwilling to assure the nation that it would not misuse Article 356 in the future. There was no reference on this subject in the Congress manifesto, while the NDA, in its joint manifesto, had made a solemn assurance to ensure "harmonious Centre-state relations in the light of the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission", one of whose main recommendations pertained to preventing the misuse of Article 356.

Vajpayee recalled that it was the Congress chief minister of Rajasthan, who had stated at a meeting of chief ministers that there was no need to amend Article 356 and that it should continue as it stands. That statement was not denied by the Congress party and its continued silence was intriguing to say the least. It was obvious that it had not accepted even the modest recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission to stop misuse of Article 356, he added.

He said his party was in favour of certain guidelines with regard to invoking of Article 356. ''In very extreme cases'' of foreign aggression and subversion the Article could be used and the BJP favoured the safeguards recommended by Sarkaria Commission. Vajpayee alleged that the Congress's aversion to forming a coalition government at the Centre further confirmed the arrogant and authoritarian character of that party.

The contradictory statements by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other spokesmen of that party had failed to enlighten the electorate about the party's stand on coalitions. ''The Congress party's approach to its allies is we need you to topple the BJP-led government, but we don't need you to share power with us.''

Vajpayee said the mindset and conduct of the Congress leadership were unsuitable to a healthy coalition culture. He said basically the Congress refused to recognise that the days of one-party rule were over and that the country had entered into an era of coalition. ''That is why it has developed the dangerous habit of toppling coalition governments, including ones supported by itself while vainly trying to form a single party government on its own despite its ever shrinking parliamentary presence.'' The Congress was the greatest enemy of democracy and stability in the country, he added.

UNI

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