Rajnath lauds EC's efforts,seeks PM's intervention on Narmada

Kolkata, Apr 16 (UNI) BJP president Rajnath Singh today welcomed the Election Commission's efforts to prevent rigging and other electoral malpractices in West Bengal and sought the immediate intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in peacefully resolving the Narmada dam issue.

Participating in a Meet-the-Press programme of Kolkata Press Club here, the BJP president claimed that free and fair Assembly polls would bring the Trinamool Congress-BJP coalition to power.

Mr Singh felt the Election Commission was moving in the right direction to ensure free and fair elections in the Left Front-ruled state. He also ccaimed that the BJP enjoyed more than eight per cent support among the electorate in West Bengal and asserted that the ruling party's claim that it had now receded to less than three per cent was nothing but a ''pack of lies''.

Underscoring the need for maintaining a round-the-clock vigil on almost all the 294 constituencies in the state and continuing with several restrictions on political campaigns by the EC, Mr Singh said the number of para-military personnel to man every booth should be increased further.

Commenting on the growing controversy surrounding the construction of the Narmada dam and the possibility of further publicisation of the issue by various parties, he said the Prime Minister should immediately convene a meeting of all concerned to resolve the issue amicably.

But at the same time, Mr Singh was all praise for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his decision to go om a 51-hour hunger strike to counter the protest of well-known social activist Medha Patekar against the government decision of increasing the height of the proposed dam.

'' What Mr Modi is doing is not for the welfare of the people of Gujarat alone but in fact that for the whole nation, '' Mr Singh said and reiterated that his party, without any intension of politicising the issue in the name of rehabilitation of the displaced stood firmly with the Chief Minister.

On the recent nuke deal with the US, Mr Singh called for greater transparency and felt that it should be at par with China in all aspects.

The BJP president also hinted that India should consider backing out from the entire deal if the US refused to grant equal status in terms of nuclear facilities to both India and China.

He alleged that the UPA government was deliberately suppressing several important factors in the deal from the Opposition, which the BJP as the main Opposition party would not tolerate.

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