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BJP will not invite Swamy for coordination committee meeting

Janata Party leader Dr Subramanian Swamy will not be invited to the coordination committee meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies to be held on May 9, BJP vice-president K L Sharma said on Saturday.

Interestingly, the meeting will include the BJP's post-poll allies like the Telugu Desam Party, the Haryana Lok Dal and the Arunachal Congress.

Dr Swamy's name, Sharma said, has been dropped from the list of invitees as he had abstained during the confidence vote for the Vajpayee-led government.

The Janata Party is part of the AIADMK group and not a partner in the BJP's post-poll alliance. Dr Swamy is, however, a signatory to the national agenda.

Invitations to all the alliance leaders have already been sent. AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha is expected to attend the meeting, BJP sources said.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana today warned partners in the BJP-led government at the Centre that if any of them attempted to dislodge the government, the country would "not forgive them. The people would teach them a fitting lesson, he said.

Expressing his anguish over the "mudslinging" by ministers belonging to allied parties on "trivial issues", he told newspersons in Tirupati on Saturday that this had a negative impact on the functioning of the government, besides creating confusion among the people.

Claiming that none of the MPs was for another election, he said the allies should keep in mind that during the recent election campaign, Vajpayee was projected as the prime minister. He termed the differences among the allies as temporary, caused by ego problems and misunderstandings, and not over policy matters.

UNI

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