Vajpayee, Advani to campaign in TN

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, APRIL 7. The Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, and the Union Home Minister, Mr. L. K. Advani, will campaign for NDA candidates in the Tamil Nadu Assembly election. Another senior Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, had also been invited to campaign, the BJP State secretary, Mr. L. Ganesan said today.

The BJP would announce its candidates for the Tamil Nadu election and the Tiruchi Lok Sabha by-election on April 9 in New Delhi. The State unit had submitted a panel of names for approval by the high command.

Referring to the DMK-MDMK rift, Mr. Ganesan said the BJP had no role to play in bringing the two parties together, but he was hopeful that the efforts being taken by the NDA convener, Mr. George Fernandes, would bear fruit.

The BJP too did not get all 21 seats it sought from the DMK in the first list. Indeed, it got only nine compared to the 12 for the MDMK. Even in the second list, the BJP got only nine seats. The remaining three were from outside the first two lists, he added.

Reacting to the statement by the PMK founder, Dr. S. Ramadoss, fixing a time frame for the Congress to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement with the AIADMK-PMK combine in Pondicherry, he said the AIADMK appeared to have lost the leadership role to the PMK in Pondicherry.

Mr. Ganesan said the expelled AIADMK MLA, Mr. R. Tamaraikani, had tried to join the BJP with a request that he be allotted the Srivilliputhur seat. However, the BJP refused to accommodate him. But, Mr. Tamaraikani was welcome to join the BJP after the election if he did not set any condition, he added.

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Section  : Southern States
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