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TN law and order situation 'very bad': BJP chief

Bharatiya Janata Party president-elect Kushabhau Thakre today described the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu as very bad, saying that the earlier assessment of Union home ministry team was not correct.

Thakre, who is on his first visit to his home state, Madhya Pradesh, after being elected the BJP president, alleged that the recent bomb blasts in Tamil Nadu were caused as the state government did not make efforts to check criminal and terrorist elements because of vote bank politics.

''I do not know on what basis the home ministry team had reached such a conclusion. The reality is just the opposite,'' he added.

Replying to a question about All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham supremo J Jayalalitha's ultimatum to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Thakre said it was also the allies's responsibility to ensure the smooth running of a coalition government and everyone should exercise restraint.

Stating that the coalition's prime responsibility was implementing the agenda finalised before coming to power, he said his party, being the largest constituent, had more responsibility. ''We will also exercise self-restraint,'' he added.

Thakre refused to comment as to whether AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha was adopting the same attitude towards the one-month-old Vajpayee government as the Congress did towards the previous United Front government.

Asked whether the BJP would go in for any electoral alliance with its present partners in future, Thakre said it was not possible to say anything about it now. ''It is possible if the circumstances are favourable,'' he added.

The veteran BJP leader did not agree that alliance with regional parties in southern states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka would cause more harm to his party in the long run. He said the BJP workers's morale in these states was high.

UNI

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